


Begin Again

by aquariuslover



Series: Expectations! [15]
Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ, Infinite (Band), Star Trek, Super Junior, 소녀시대 | Girls' Generation | SNSD
Genre: A life in danger!, Giant Beasts, Jaejoong gives birth, M/M, Mutiny, RED ALERT!, Reconciliation Sex, Ship in danger!, Someone dies!, Yunho's impossible choice!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-05-29 00:09:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 27,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15060794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aquariuslover/pseuds/aquariuslover
Summary: The cycle of life continues as alliances are made, love moves forward, a beloved infant is born, and the journey of two souls inches closer and closer to the inevitable end.





	1. Chapter 1

It was early dawn.  
  
Streams of sunlight were beginning to thread their way down through the branches of the great trees that towered over the land.  
  
The leader of a small hunting group held up his hand halting the three men that followed behind him closely.  
  
The pain filled wails of the large animal they had been tracking broke through the silence of the new morning. The leader motioned for the others to proceed as he moved in the direction of the cries. They slowly and carefully trudged on through the forest.  
  
They came upon a small clearing where they found the injured animal. The animal was a large, furry mammal that slightly resembled a moose of earth except for its thick pelt, having six extremities and growing much larger in size. This one was a smaller female; she had once stood four meters in height. Two of her back legs had been ripped off by a predator and she had stumbled into the forest to die alone. When her last remaining back leg had given out, she had fallen to the ground, knowing she would never get back up again.  
  
The leader pulled out his weapon, aimed it carefully, and fired. The pain filled cries that had filled the forest ceased as her suffering came to an end.  
  
The four men in the group said nothing for a moment, reflecting on the end of a life.  
  
“Well, now it’s time to cut it up and haul it back,” the leader stated matter-of-factly, after the moment of silence. He stepped into the clearing and walked determinedly toward the fallen animal. “We can skin it, too. Its hide will make a nice warm blanket.”  
  
“Damn, Ryeowook, how did I ever mistake you for soft hearted?” a slightly taken aback Commander Yoochun asked in awe as he followed after the doctor.  
  
“I am soft hearted,” the doctor told the engineer as he knelt down by the dead animal and rested his hand gently against her face. “To let this poor creature suffer a long, agonizing death would have been cruel.”  
  
Yoochun looked down at the dead animal and nodded his head. “I suppose.”  
  
Ryeowook slid his hand over the lifeless eyes, shutting them. “It would have been.”  
  
“Well, if eating the meat keeps me from having the shits, that’s fine by me.”  
  
Ryeowook turned his head back to where the two other men in their party stood stiffly; they had not moved since the animal was shot. “Kyuhyun, bring me the knives.”  
  
Junsu, who stood beside Kyuhyun, wiped his eyes. “I just…I’m…we are going to eat it?”  
  
Ryeowook turned back around and explained, “Yes, Junsu we are going to eat it. Unfortunately, Jaejoong can not maintain our health; unlike Yunho, we can actually starve here.”  
  
“Lucky Yunho…” Junsu said uneasily.  
  
Yoochun snorted dismissively. “I would rather eat raw meat than be bonded to that princess.”  
  
Kyuhyun walked over to Junsu and put a comforting hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. “Ensign, you know we have to eat the meat. The vegetation on this planet is too similar to the sennas genus on earth. You knew this was a hunting party…you know we have to do everything we can to survive.”  
  
Junsu’s eyes were locked on the fallen animal. “I understand why we did it…it just seems so wrong…so sad.”  
  
“Believe me, I understand. I once accidentally ate a piece of real bacon on Baylor. Once I found out what I had done I puked up my guts. I still can’t look at a pig without feeling a tinge of guilt.”  
  
“Kyuhyun,” Ryeowook called out again. “I need the knives. We need to hurry.”  
  
Kyuhyun let go of Junsu and headed toward Ryeowook. “I wouldn’t exactly call these knives.”  
  
“Hey, they are sharp!” Yoochun protested. “I made them!”  
  
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Kyuhyun muttered as he knelt down beside Ryeowook and started handing him the knives made of rocks they had forged with the heat of the phasers.  
  
“Can I do the cutting?” Yoochun, who was still standing behind Ryeowook, asked as he stared down at the dead animal.  
  
Ryeowook shook his head. “No…it has to be cut right. This meat has to last. We can’t afford to let any of it to go to waste. You go comfort Junsu. Kyuhyun and I will do the work here.”  
  
Yoochun turned around and looked the emotional younger man. “I don’t want to comfort him…I am not comforting.”  
  
“Go,” Ryeowook ordered. “Try your best.”  
  
“I can’t wait ‘til I get to be boss,” Yoochun grumbled, grabbing the tricorder that was resting beside Kyuhyun. “I am taking this though.”  
  
“Okay,” Ryeowook agreed.  
  
Kyuhyun looked up at the engineer and beseeched, “Please don’t get distracted by Junsu and wander off too far.”  
  
“Hey! He doesn’t distract me anymore!”  
  
The other commander furrowed his brows. “Sure…just, please let us know if you pick up on any dinosaur heading this way. I’d rather not be eaten by one.”  
  
Yoochun smirked. “I will try my best.”  
  
The doctor turned and commanded, “Go, we don’t have much time. Once it gets warmer they will be out and prowling…and they will smell the blood.”  
  
“Out of here,” Yoochun shivered slightly at the thought of the large reptilian creatures that hunted the forest. “Call when you are done.”  
  
“We will,” Kyuhyun assured the other man. Kyuhyun waited till Yoochun was out of sight before he asked his estranged husband. “Why do I have to help you?”  
  
Ryeowook, who was about to gut the animal, answered, “He seemed a little too eager.”  
  
Kyuhyun frowned. “Whereas, I am not the least bit eager.”  
  
“Believe me, I am not eager to do it either…it just has to be done. We need the meat and we need the hide also.”  
  
“Yeah…I know.”  
  
Ryeowook sighed as he moved and positioned himself between the dead animal’s legs and ran his hand over its furry belly. “I have only seen it done a couple of times. As a kid I was more likely to set the animals free from the slaughter house…but grandma insisted I know how to do it.”  
  
Kyuhyun turned his head to look at Ryeowook fondly. “Your grandmother is a hard woman.”  
  
“She has to be.”  
  
“You miss her?”  
  
“You know I do…and boy, wouldn’t she be a wonderful help right now,” Ryeowook answered wistfully as he pierced the animal’s belly with a knife and skillfully sliced it open.  
  
Kyuhyun winced and covered his face with his hands as the intestines came spilling out. “You seem to know what you are doing.”  
  
“Thanks…I think.”  
  
  
***************************  
  
  
“I wasn’t meant for this kind of a life,” Junsu whined as he stumbled through the forest. The floor of the forest had tree branches of all sizes scattered across it. “I was raised on synthesized food in a technologically advanced civilization. I am not a hunter or a flesh eater. The thought of eating real meat makes me physically ill.”  
  
“Will you be still?” Yoochun complained as he chased after the younger man. “We can’t get too far away from them.”  
  
Junsu stopped. “Why would the Guardian send us here? Of all the places in the universe…and of all the countless realities, why send us here?”  
  
“Who knows why it does anything?”  
  
The younger man plopped down on a log and looked up at the commander. “I know it saved us…but why not send us home?”  
  
Yoochun leaned against the trunk of an enormous tree that stood 150 meters in height and replied, “I don’t know…but it isn’t because I kicked it. I apologized for that.”  
  
Junsu gave the engineer a weak smile. “No, it’s not your fault. I just wish I had gotten rations…if we only had rations.”  
  
“Do I need to remind you that you were still preparing for the mission when they whisked you away with the transporters? I’m just glad you got the tricorder and the phaser. I can’t imagine what it would be like here without them.”  
  
“A medkit would have been nice, too.”  
  
Yoochun exhaled and gruffly asked the pilot, “Did I miss you becoming a doctor?”  
  
“No.”  
  
“Stop whining about shit that has already gone down…and whine about the shitting we are constantly doing.”  
  
Junsu looked at the irritated engineer and laughed.  
  
“It’s not funny…my ass burns.”  
  
“Mine too.”  
  
“I will eat anything Ryeowook feeds me at this point, especially if it means not having diarrhea.”  
  
The younger man stopped laughing and turned slightly green. “I don’t know if I would say that.”  
  
“This is about survival. We have to survive long enough for Jaejoong to spit that kid out and find the Guardian on this planet. I for one have no intention of starving or shitting myself to death. I also prefer not to be eaten by some huge ass Allosaurus looking creature. It’s like Yellow Stone Park met the Jurassic era here. There are grasslands, forest, an ocean, and don’t forget the volcano. This place is fucking with my head.”  
  
“Mine, too.”  
  
“We just have to survive long enough to find the Guardian.”  
  
“I hope there is a Guardian somewhere on this planet,” Junsu replied longingly as he looked up through the trees to the sky. “I really hope so.”  
  
“There has to be…there just has to be.”  
  
“Jaejoong, believes so…what is that?” Junsu asked, lifting his hand and pointing up toward the sky.  
  
Yoochun looked in the direction that Junsu was pointing. “I don’t see anything.”  
  
Junsu stood up. “It’s gone now, but it looked almost like a man…a man with wings?”  
  
“Are you imagining angels?”  
  
“No,” Junsu insisted as his eyes scanned the trees. “It had to be a bird…a really big bird.”  
  
Yoochun glanced back at the ensign and said drily, “To go with the really big trees.”  
  
  
**********************  
  
  
Jaejoong was sitting on the ground, leaning up against the entrance to a large cave that they had made into their temporary base. The cave was one of many that had once been carved out by the lava of the once active, but now dormant, volcano.  
  
Jaejoong slowly rubbed his belly as he watched Yunho pace in front of the cave. “Yunho, I get so tired of watching you pace.”  
  
Yunho didn’t stop.  
  
“What good does pacing accomplish?”  
  
Yunho continued to pace. “It makes me feel like I am doing something.”  
  
Jaejoong patted the ground beside him. “Come sit here and entertain me.”  
  
“Jaejoong…”  
  
“I am not talking about anything remotely sexual, because believe me, I am so not in the mood. I feel like my belly could burst open at any minute.”  
  
“I don’t know about bursting open, but I wouldn’t mind if Changmin would be born.”  
  
“Me either, now come sit by me.”  
  
Yunho reluctantly went and sat down by his mate.  
  
Jaejoong smiled at his small triumph. “You know I am a highly evolved being.”  
  
“Yes, I know.”  
  
“So this living in a cave with others is new for me.”  
  
“It’s new for all of us…believe it or not, humans on Earth don’t still live in caves.”  
  
“Of course, I am sure you are few decades past that.”  
  
Yunho frowned.  
  
“It is unsettling that the cave is at the base of a volcano.”  
  
“The volcano is not active.”  
  
“I am aware of this.”  
  
“It was our best option.”  
  
“I agree, and I must admit as far as caves go, it’s not bad.”  
  
“No,” Yunho agreed. “We were lucky to have found it. It reminds me of the Lechuguilla Cave on Earth.”  
  
Jaejoong leaned his head against Yunho’s shoulder. “I am just grateful for the fresh pools of water inside it.”  
  
“Yes, having such easy access to drinkable water is a blessing.”  
  
“I was talking about bathing.”  
  
“Yes, I know you love to bathe.”  
  
“I love for you to bathe too…the stench before we found this cave was offensive to my olfactory glands.  
  
Yunho closed his eyes. “Well, aren’t you lucky we found this nice cave then?”  
  
“I don’t feel lucky.”  
  
“Me either,” Yunho responded truthfully as he gazed out past the small grasslands that surrounded the cave and toward the forest in the background.  
  
As if he still had the ability to read his mate’s mind Jaejoong said, reminding his mate, “You couldn’t have gone with them. You have to stay with me.”  
  
Yunho sighed. “I know.”  
  
“You don’t know,” Jaejoong said correcting the other man. “You might think you know…but deep down you don’t know. You don’t feel it. Your crew is out there alone and you hate that you are not with them. It goes against your every instinct to stay behind.”  
  
Yunho rubbed his face. “We both know I was not going to leave you alone here.”  
  
“We  _both_  know I was not going to let  _you_  leave me.”  
  
Yunho turned his head to frown at his mate.  
  
“It would be completely idiotic. You do not require nutrients but if you do crave food you can eat the vegetation here without suffering the foul smelling side effects the others suffer from. And most importantly, our telepathic connection is all but gone. It would not have been safe.”  
  
“I know this.”  
  
“Plus, I could give birth at any moment and I need you with me…I can’t imagine doing it without you.”  
  
“You won’t.”  
  
“Changmin will be the first hybrid…what if it hurts more than it should? What if I have complications…you and Ryeowook should both be with me. I should have not let him go hunting, either.”  
  
“I think I remember you saying on more than one occasion that you didn’t require any assistance from a primitive doctor.”  
  
“Perhaps, I might have said that…before.”  
  
“Perhaps...”  
  
Jaejoong shrugged. “I might require his assistance now. He can be my glorified helper, and do whatever is required of him.”  
  
“More like your personal slave.”  
  
“Joongs do not believe in the institution of slavery.”  
  
“That’s comforting.”  
  
“Joongs do not have slaves…everyone is happy to serve us.”  
  
Yunho side-eyed his mate, looking extremely skeptical, and questioned, “Wouldn’t…couldn’t Joongs make anyone happy…who wasn’t voluntarily happy?”  
  
“Yes, of course. Like I said everyone is happy to serve the Joong.”  
  
“Free-will happy or a Joong mind dazzled me and I am happy?”  
  
Jaejoong caught on to his mate’s accusations and quickly snapped, “Yunho, the Joong are a highly evolved people; I do not require an ethics lesson from you.”  
  
“I am not saying you do.”  
  
“Then kindly change the topic.”  
  
Yunho held up his hands in surrender.  
  
“But I must admit I am seriously considering letting Ryeowook be present for Changmin’s birth,” Jaejoong informed his mate, “although I do reserve the right to change my mind.”  
  
“Of course you do.”  
  
“So he should not have left.”  
  
“Ryeowook had to go with them. It was essential he go.”  
  
“True, he is the leader here.”  
  
Yunho’s smile disappeared.  
  
“He knows the primitive ways of your ancient ancestors best,” Jaejoong amended seeing the hurt look on Yunho’s face. “It is not a compliment.”  
  
Yunho folded his arms tightly in front of him. “I know…I just feel really useless.”  
  
“I can understand why. You gave an imposter control of the ship and allowed it to be hijacked from you,” Jaejoong stated as he gently nudged Yunho with his shoulder, hinting that he wanted the other man to hold him.  
  
“You really know how to kick a dog when he is down.”  
  
“I have never seen a dog, so I know for certain I have not kicked one.”  
  
“It’s just a saying.”  
  
“One that does not apply to me,” Jaejoong informed his mate as he reached over and tried to pry Yunho’s arms apart.  
  
Yunho refused to budge for Jaejoong.  
  
“Hold me.”  
  
“No.”  
  
Jaejoong continued to try to pry Yunho’s arms apart. “I was teasing you.”  
  
“It’s not something to tease about.”  
  
“Yunho,” Jaejoong whined. “I require that you wrap your arms around me and hold me close.”  
  
Yunho did not relent. “I require that you be nice.”  
  
“I am nice.”  
  
“No, you are not.”  
  
Jaejoong sucked his bottom lip into his mouth.  
  
Yunho snorted. “Now you are pouting.”  
  
“No,” Jaejoong answered. “I was trying not to remind you that I warned you about Sungmin a long time ago…and you didn’t listen to me. I knew he couldn’t be trusted.”  
  
“Thanks for _not_  reminding me.”  
  
Jaejoong leaned his head against Yunho. “I will admit to being wrong about Yoochun…he shows great loyalty towards you…even if he is evil.”  
  
“He is not evil.”  
  
“He has the capacity for it.”  
  
“Who doesn’t?”  
  
Jaejoong nodded his head. “True, almost all humans have the capacity…except for you.”  
  
Yunho arched his eyebrows. “Really?”  
  
“Yes, you my great love, have a goodness about you…that can not be tainted by circumstance.”  
  
“You are just sweet talking me now,” Yunho told his mate as he slipped his arm around Jaejoong.  
  
Jaejoong squeezed in closer to his mate. “It’s true…you would never kick a dog.”  
  
“No,” Yunho confirmed. “Dogs are pretty wonderful.”  
  
“I know the loss of the ship weighs heavily upon you, but you must not despair. If the creatures that took over the bodies of Leeteuk, Heechul and Ji-Hoon are really rogue Joongs from centuries past…then they always held the advantage, especially with me in this condition.”  
  
Yunho held Jaejoong tighter. “They feared you…I believe that is why after your last examination everything started happening. They couldn’t have you at full telepathic strength. They had to get rid of us...but why involve a Guardian?”  
  
“They didn’t want us to die.”  
  
“But…that makes no sense.”  
  
“They were once Joong…Joongs hold life sacred. We do not take lives unless—”  
  
“I know,” Yunho said interrupting. “Not unless your mate or children are at risk, but they were outlaws…and how did they know the Guardian would save the others?”  
  
Jaejoong closed his eyes. “They could not have known for sure, although Leeteuk would have been aware of the Guardian transporting your two ensigns in the past. He could have hypothesized that the Guardian would step in and save humans from Earth.”  
  
“Shindong was supposed to be sent with us.”  
  
“If Shindong had been sent with us…he would most likely be dead.”  
  
Yunho shivered. “I am glad they changed their mind and didn’t send him. I feel as if I should—” Yunho stopped abruptly, let go of Jaejoong, and stood up. “I can see them.”  
  
Jaejoong looked out across the grassy field at the small party of four men who were all weighted down by the fresh supplies they were carrying. “You should go assist them.”  
  
Yunho didn’t spare Jaejoong a reply as he rushed off to help the others.  
  
  
**************  
  
“Why did you request my presence?” Heechul questioned after he materialized in the middle of an ancient structure. He snarled when he noticed he was knee deep in filthy water. “You know I loathe being dirty.”  
  
“Oh, quit fussing and just be glad you have a physical form to be dirty in,” Leeteuk said, chastising the other man. “Unfortunately, it appears the Key Ad Vitam isn’t here.”  
  
Heechul looked around the ruins they were standing in. “It’s amazing the structure is still standing after all this time.”  
  
“Only barely.”  
  
“True, but it has withstood continental shifts and global weather changes…it is an impressive structure, even with crumbling walls.”  
  
“Admirable.”  
  
“Shall we continue our search elsewhere?”  
  
Leeteuk gently guided his hand through the murky water. “No, it is too important. It must be here, but perhaps it will not appear to us.”  
  
“Then send your pet down and see if he can find it.”  
  
“No,” Leeteuk stated firmly. “Even Lieutenant Sungmin would grow suspicious if I had him come looking here, so soon after I had him find the one on Pixxel.”  
  
“I highly doubt that; I am sure you gave him sufficient positive reinforcement to maintain his absolute loyalty.”  
  
“Oh, I did what I could, but in all honesty he didn’t do anything worthy of praise and even he is smart enough to know that. Ensign SungGyu is the one that entered the Fortress of Snow and defeated the beast…Sungmin just showed up later and collected the prize.”  
  
Heechul’s eyes narrowed. “Ensign SungGyu is a clever one…perhaps too clever.”  
  
“You sound like Ji-Hoon.”  
  
“Ji-Hoon is unstable and that he and I sound anything alike is insulting, but I digress. The young ensign can detect Ji-Hoon’s growing instability. That you gave Ji-Hoon control of engineering is a growing concern for the ensign that was once Commander Yoochun and Commander Jung’s designated favorite.”  
  
Leeteuk removed his hand from the water and asked, “How unstable is Ji-Hoon?”  
  
“Very,” Heechul confirmed. “I am not sure how much longer he can carry on the façade. From the little I can coax out of young Doctor Nam I suspect that Ensign SungGyu is watching Ji-Hoon very closely.”  
  
“Are you suggesting I get rid of Ensign SungGyu?”  
  
Heechul shook his head. “No, I am suggesting you endear yourself to him.”  
  
“What do you suggest?”  
  
“Ji-Hoon will soon self-destruct and afterwards you will need someone competent running engineering.”  
  
Leeteuk grinned at Heechul. “Excellent suggestion, but it is actually Ensign Henry who is the engineering genius.”  
  
“Geniuses rarely make skilled leaders; you know this.”  
  
“True,” Leeteuk conceded. “But the genius Dr. Kim Heechul…the Chief Medical Officer, wasn’t he the exception?”  
  
“He was the exception to a great many things.”  
  
“Yes,” Leeteuk concurred, nodding his head. “Now, tell me again why Shindong lays in a deep coma in sickbay with some imaginary illness you have inflicted upon him…instead of dead like I ordered.”  
  
“Your decision to kill him was illogical. At the time he was the only member of this crew familiar with the current state of this galaxy,” Heechul reminded the other man. “We had no idea if young Doctor Nam would survive his time on Pixxel.”  
  
“Are you sure that is the only reason he still breathes?”  
  
“What other reason could there be?”  
  
Leeteuk sloshed through the murky water until he was standing in front of Heechul. He lifted his right arm and rested the palm of it against the middle of Heechul’s chest. “This carcass you inhabit was once an  _exceptional_  earthling; an earthling that could break through total darkness to reemerge in times of need.”  
  
Heechul’s eyes hardened. “What are you hinting at?”  
  
“That compassion once eluded you…does it still?”  
  
“I am with you,” Heechul proclaimed, covering Leeteuk’s hand with both of his, avoiding the question. “Millenniums have passed and I have been with you…and I still am.”  
  
Leeteuk gave Heechul a small, sad smile. “Yes, our suffering has gone on for too long…much too long.”  
  
  
********************  
  
  
Ryeowook had gotten up earlier than the others.  
  
He had lain there in the cave with his crewmembers for only a short while before he got up and walked into one of the many tunnels inside the cave, where they had made a freezer of sorts with the phaser to keep the meat they had gathered yesterday cold.  
  
They had found several unsuitable caves while searching for a temporary home…a base…a place of safety, before they had found this cave. It has been perfect, with its supply of fresh drinking water and an entrance that allowed them easy access in and out, but was small enough to prevent the larger predators that prowled the planet from entering the cave.  
  
He gathered up some meat and took it to the area just outside the cave and found a flat rock where he could lay out the slices.  
  
Grassy lands extended for four kilometers in front of the entrance, and past the grassy lands stood a giant forest. On the other side of the volcano was a great ocean that covered more than half the planet.  
  
Ryeowook knelt down by the rock and started laying out the meat but paused when he noticed a herd of the furry deer like creatures grazing. He closed his eyes and embraced his guilt before slowly opening them again to gaze upon the beautiful animals.  
  
“You had no choice.”  
  
The doctor looked up to find Yunho watching him. “Captain.”  
  
“The animal was already mortally injured.”  
  
Ryeowook sighed and held back the sting of tears. “Have you developed Jaejoong’s ability to read minds?”  
  
“No, it was just a lucky guess.”  
  
“I don’t think so…I think it was excellent understanding of the people in your charge.”  
  
Yunho winked. “Maybe.”  
  
“You remind me of her.”  
  
A startled Yunho asked, “Of who?”  
  
“Kyuhyun’s mother”  
  
“The admiral?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“That is a high compliment.”  
  
“It is indeed. Do you know how I met her?”  
  
“No,” Yunho answered, surprised by the question.  
  
“I was a child on Baylor and I had a fatally injured pet…a goose, and I was heartbroken because I knew he was going to die, but she appeared from the heavens and made everything better. She tucked a strand of loose hair behind my ear, promised me anything was possible in life, and she vowed that someday all my dreams would come true.”  
  
Yunho gave Ryeowook a gentle smile. “Admiral Cho is a remarkable officer…and an extraordinary person.”  
  
“She was…she is.”  
  
“She is,” Yunho confirmed. “They are not lost…we are, but someday we will see them again.”  
  
“Do you really believe that?”  
  
“I do.”  
  
Ryeowook wiped his face and apologized, “I am sorry.”  
  
A confused Yunho asked, “Why?”  
  
“I just am…for a lot of things. Being here reminds me of…of who I really am. Who I am supposed to be and who I dreamed of being. I realize now, that I have been lost in more ways than one for a long time. I don’t regret Kyuhyun siding with you and I don’t regret being here. You were right and I am sorry I ever doubted you.”  
  
Yunho reached out his hand and gently squeezed the other man’s shoulder, replying sincerely, “Thank you.”  
  
“You are welcome, Sir.”  
  
Yunho released his hand from Ryeowook’s shoulder, knelt down beside him, and clasped his hands together and asked, “Do you need any help getting breakfast ready?”  
  
Ryeowook, who knew exactly how helpless the other man felt in their present predicament, quickly replied, “That would be great, I could use some help.”  
  
“Just tell me what you—”  
  
Yunho was interrupted when Yoochun pushed Kyuhyun out of the cave and declared, “Look who I caught eavesdropping on you two.”  
  
“I wasn’t eavesdropping,” Kyuhyun protested as he walked over to Ryeowook, looking extremely guilty. “I was just debating if I was going to go back to sleep or not.”  
  
“Not me,” Yoochun proclaimed. “I am wide awake and ready for some cooked animal flesh. Who knew I was so carnivorous?”  
  
Yunho stood back up and grinned at his old friend. “I am so glad you are wide awake.”  
  
“No,” Yoochun yelped, sensing the other man had plans for him. “Dare I even ask what you have in mind for me?”  
  
Yunho looked up at the volcano.  
  
“No,” Yoochun repeated. “What happened to waiting for the baby to be born?”  
  
“It’s just a little morning stroll, Yoochun,” Yunho told his oldest friend.  
  
“Stroll,” Yoochun spat in disbelief as he looked up at the volcano.  
  
“Okay, maybe a short hike would be a better description,” Yunho amended. “We need to take a quick look.”  
  
Yoochun groaned. “The Guardian is not up there.”  
  
“I know that but if we get up a little higher we might be able to see the Guardian,” Yunho explained. “We won’t go far.”  
  
Yoochun looked doubtfully at the captain. “Sure, you won’t. I will be in respiratory distress and you will be standing at the very top saying… _oh, it was just a little hike_.”  
  
“I won’t,” Yunho vowed, motioning for Yoochun to follow him. “I have to hurry before Jaejoong wakes up.”  
  
“I wish he’d hurry and put you back on your leash,” Yoochun complained loudly, but followed after Yunho.  
  
“You are so grumpy in the morning,” Yunho chided his friend as he led the way up the rocky incline.  
  
“Because you have me climbing mountains before breakfast!”  
  
“It’s not a mountain…it’s a volcano.”  
  
“Oh, well that makes it so much better!”  
  
Kyuhyun and Ryeowook watched in amusement as Yunho and Yoochun disappeared out of sight.  
  
“If Jaejoong wakes up…Yunho’s not going to hear the end of it,” Ryeowook knowingly stated as he started laying the meat out on the flat rock again.  
  
“Yeah, but I kinda hope he doesn’t wake up.”  
  
“Me too,” Ryeowook agreed. “Yunho needs this.”  
  
Kyuhyun sat down beside Ryeowook and asked earnestly, “How are you doing?”  
  
Ryeowook’s hands stilled. They had been on the planet for a week now, and he and his estranged husband had kept their talking to the bare minimum. They had not ignored each other, but they had acted like crewmembers on a mission and nothing like the loving spouses they had once been. “I am…I am better.”  
  
“Better?”  
  
Ryeowook nodded his head.  
  
“Does that mean you aren’t as angry with me?”  
  
The doctor turned his head quickly to meet Kyuhyun’s gaze. “Angry with you?”  
  
Kyuhyun blinked, not expecting the confusion in Ryeowook’s eyes. “For not trusting you?”  
  
“Oh…”  
  
“You were pretty pissed at me.”  
  
“I was,” Ryeowook agreed, remembering his accusations. “But I was wrong. You were right to doubt me.”  
  
“I was?”  
  
Ryeowook cleared his throat and admitted, “I thought I knew best. I would have ratted you out to Leeteuk if I thought I was protecting you…I see that now.”  
  
“Well, I can see your point also…even if I disagreed with it.”  
  
“I was wrong, so don’t bother seeing my point.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
“Yes, being here has made me see things…more clearly. I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s like my grandma just slapped me in the face and told me to wake up. I feel like I am not—”  
  
“Lost anymore.”  
  
“You were eavesdropping,” Ryeowook told his mate knowingly with a small smile.  
  
Kyuhyun grasped Ryeowook’s hand and confessed, “I was…you brought up my mom…and I just had to listen.”  
  
“I miss your mom and I miss my grandmother…I miss their guidance.”  
  
“I do, too…I…I have so much to make up to my mom for…and my dad.”  
  
“No,” Ryeowook stated firmly, while squeezing Kyuhyun’s hand. “Your parents and especially your mom…would never expect that from you. They understood that you were the injured one and your mother knew that your actions were just how you lashed out against your pain…I used to know this, too.”  
  
“Ryeowook…”  
  
“Don’t,” Ryeowook pleaded as he placed both his hands on the sides of Kyuhyun’s face, forcing his husband to look him in the eye. “Let me apologize.”  
  
“You don’t have to,” Kyuhyun said reaching up to cover Ryeowook’s hands with his own. “I did everything wrong.”  
  
“No, you were just trying to survive…and I was an unforgiving fool and policed every aspect of your recovery—when I knew better than anyone how it would make you react. I am sorry.”  
  
“You have nothing to be sorry for.”  
  
“Please, just accept my apology. When I look back on my actions since I was rescued…I can’t even recognize myself. How could you? When you told me that you didn’t even recognize me…you spoke the truth. I am not the boy…or the man I used to be…or rather, I haven’t been acting like him. I am so sorry, because I know you needed him.”  
  
Kyuhyun pulled Ryeowook’s hands down and tried to blink away tears that were forming in his eyes. “You were just angry…it’s not like you didn’t have a reason.”  
  
“I can understand if you can’t forgive me.”  
  
“But can you forgive me?”  
  
“Don’t you understand what I am saying? I realize now…I have nothing left to forgive. I brought all of this upon us. I destroyed our marriage and worst of all…I destroyed our friendship. My grandma used to preach that forgiveness is divine…and I couldn’t even muster up a little of it…not for you…you, who I love most.”  
  
Kyuhyun trembled all over as he met Ryeowook’s gaze and recognized the boy who had once pierced through his jaded heart at the academy. The boy who had chased his demons away and made him feel safe again. “I forgive you…”  
  
“Thank you…I don’t deserve it, but—”  
  
“I am so sorry!” Junsu shrieked as he ran past them, interrupting their moment, “but I have to pee!”  
  
“Pee my ass,” Jaejoong grumbled as he slowly emerged from the cave. “The amount of flatus he is expelling could power a star ship. Luckily I can hold my breath and keep on living.”  
  
Ryeowook chuckled at the Joong as he pulled out the phaser, adjusted the settings, and aimed it at the rock. “It’s because he won’t eat the meat.”  
  
Jaejoong walked over to Kyuhyun and Ryeowook and slowly lowered himself to the ground. Kyuhyun offered him a hand and Jaejoong gratefully took it. He then continued to complain, “Not that I encourage your flesh gnawing ways, but if that is the reason why he expels so much gas, then he better start eating meat or I am going to stuff it down his throat.”  
  
An amused Kyuhyun asked, “Do Joong’s not expel gas?”  
  
“No we do not,” Jaejoong informed him, and then noticed the two men seemed unusually relaxed with each other. “Have you two decided to make amends?”  
  
“I think so…I think we are better now,” Kyuhyun told the Joong, but glanced at Ryeowook for confirmation. “Aren’t we?”  
  
“I hope so,” RyeoWook answered, smiling back at Kyuhyun.  
  
“About time,” Jaejoong told them. “I swear you two have been fighting the entire time I have known you.”  
  
“We have, but with any luck those days are behind us,” Ryeowook responded as he finished cooking the meat.  
  
“It’s been a long road,” Kyuhyun told Jaejoong. “But we have better things to focus on, now.”  
  
“Like eating,” Ryeowook told Kyuhyun and handed him a piece of meat.  
  
Kyuhyun ate the meat and smiled at his husband. “It’s surprisingly good.”  
  
Ryeowook smiled back at his husband and asked, “Did you forget that I am an excellent cook?”  
  
“No, I just forgot how good real meat tasted.”  
  
“It’s delicious but sadly it isn’t guilt free.”  
  
Kyuhyun turned around to look in the direction Junsu has hurried off in. “No, it isn’t, but luckily I don’t feel the urge to hurl.”  
  
Jaejoong, who had tuned out the couple, was looking around the camp. “Where is Yunho? I thought he was off excreting waste.”  
  
Kyuhyun stared at Jaejoong, amazed. “You sounded just like Changmin.”  
  
“Did I?”  
  
“You did,” Ryeowook concurred. “You sound more and more like him recently.”  
  
“That’s nice, but you did not answer my question,” Jaejoong pointed out to them. “Where is my Yunho?”  
  
“He went for a stroll with Yoochun,” Ryeowook answered.  
  
“A stroll? A stroll…there are giant reptilian beasts here that wouldn’t hesitate to eat him.”  
  
“It isn’t warm enough yet for the reptilian beasts to be out,” Kyuhyun reminded the Joong. “The other large animals we have encountered on this planet are not carnivores.”  
  
Jaejoong gave Kyuhyun a deadpan look as the commander munched on a piece of meat. “And neither were you a week ago.”  
  
“True,” Kyuhyun conceded while he continued to eat.  
  
“He has Yoochun with him,” Ryeowook informed the Joong. “How much trouble could they get in?”  
  
Jaejoong sighed and shook his head at their ignorance. “Do I need to remind you of all the bones Yunho has broken and near death experiences he has had just since I have known him?”  
  
“He’s fine,” Ryeowook said reassuringly.  
  
“I will give him five more minutes and I am going to go look for him,” Jaejoong stated.  
  
“Jaejoong, don’t be unreasonable. You can just call him with the combadge. You don’t need to go…” Ryeowook paused as he watched Junsu return to the camp, walking awkwardly. “Junsu, you have to be terribly excoriated if it is affecting your gait in such a manner.”  
  
Junsu nodded his head, but pleaded, “I’m okay, just don’t make me eat meat.”  
  
“Junsu, if you allow your condition to weaken much more, you will be no help to us,” Kyuhyun reminded the ensign. “We have to survive…we have to maintain our bodies.”  
  
“I just…can’t eat meat,” Junsu said. “I just can’t.”  
  
“Just so you know, when you lose consciousness or become so weak you can’t resist I am going to force the nutrients you require down your throat,” Ryeowook informed Junsu, unapologetically. “I will not respect your wishes.”  
  
“And he won’t bother cooking it,” Jaejoong bluntly informed the ensign, still irritated by the smell the younger man was emitting.  
  
Junsu paled.  
  
“Don’t listen to him,” Ryeowook told Junsu. “I will make you a nice broth.”  
  
“Broth,” Junsu repeated, while reaching a hand back to cup his aching behind.  
  
“Yes, would you like me to make you some now?” Ryeowook asked. “It wouldn’t have any solid meat in it.”  
  
Junsu shrugged and nodded. “Okay…maybe I could try broth.”  
  
“Who wants broth?” Yoochun asked as he reentered the camp with Yunho, “when we have eggs.” Both men were carrying eggs the size of ostrich eggs.  
  
“Where did you find those?” Ryeowook exclaimed, standing up.  
  
“Up on the cliffs above us,” Yunho answered as he pointed up above them.  
  
“How did the tricorders not detect them?” Kyuhyun asked, surprised.  
  
“They were recently laid, so when we first scanned the area with the tricorder they weren’t there,” Yunho explained.  
  
“Are they from birds or lizards?” Ryeowook asked, eyeing the cliffs above them. “I never noticed any birds that big.”  
  
“I am not sure, but they have hard shells,” Yunho answered laying the eggs down in front of Ryeowook.  
  
“Yunho would only let us take the unfertilized ones,” Yoochun explained as he sat down beside Junsu.  
  
“There was no need to take the fertilized ones, there were plenty of unfertilized ones,” Yunho reminded his engineer as he sat down beside Jaejoong. “Let’s not become complete savages.”  
  
Ryeowook looked up and Junsu and questioned, “What do you think, Junsu? You think you could eat an unfertilized egg if I fried it up?”  
  
Junsu looked doubtful. “Umm…I think I will stick with broth for now.”  
  
Jaejoong couldn’t keep from smiling at Yunho. “I should be angry with you, but I am not.”  
  
Yunho smiled back at him. “Why, are you craving eggs?”  
  
“No, I will limit myself to the vegetation on this planet.”  
  
“That is only because you can’t get the shits from it,” Yoochun replied as he sat down across from Jaejoong and Yunho.  
  
Jaejoong leaned forward and grinned at Yoochun, telling him, “It’s one of the perks of being the superior race.”  
  
“I don’t get the shits either,” Yunho reminded Jaejoong.  
  
“And that is one of the perks from being bonded to a superior being,” Jaejoong reminded Yunho. “You would be as stinky as Junsu if it weren’t for me.”  
  
Yunho wrapped his arm around Jaejoong. “Be nice.”  
  
“I am very nice,” Jaejoong told his mate. “Remember, I am not angry.”  
  
“True, you are very gracious this morning.”  
  
“Yes, I am,” Jaejoong confirmed for Yunho as he leaned into his embrace. “Good Morning.’  
  
“Good Morning,” Yunho responded and then kissed his mate on the cheek.  
  
  
*********************  
  
  
  
“I know it’s tough but try to enjoy yourself a little,” Sungmin told his oldest friend. They were on shore leave on Zilax, a planet known for its friendliness, recreational activities, and large assortment of merchandise. The captain had ordered everyone to take shore leave at one of the planets largest and friendliest cities.  
  
“I can’t do that,” Eunhyuk stated as he stared down the street of the thriving city. The city reminded him of Earth’s great gambling cities of the past. The people were friendly but almost eight hundred years behind Earth technologically. “I can’t just forget about him.”  
  
“I would never ask you to do that.”  
  
“How can I have a good time…knowing he is dead?”  
  
“Just try not to think about it.”  
  
“I can’t. I can’t forget…the last words I said to him…I can’t forget them. It was like we weren’t even friends.”  
  
“But you were friends, the best of friends.”  
  
“I can’t forget what we said to each other…I just can’t forget. I miss him so much…and our last…the last time I saw him it was so awful. I wish I could go back and change it all…but I can’t. I can’t ever tell him I am sorry.”  
  
Sungmin bit his tongue and refrained from telling his friend that Junsu wouldn’t want him to mourn. Sungmin was haunted by his own memories of his last encounter with their friend. “I know…it’s hard, but…you have to remember all the other times…the good times you two shared. He loved you…you two were brothers. You were just as much his brother as his twin ever was.”  
  
“You are making me feel worse.”  
  
“I don’t want you to feel worse…I just want you to feel better…to find some peace.”  
  
Eunhyuk reached up and wiped his red eyes. “I don’t care how many memorial services we have…how many shore leaves we get…it will never be okay. Never.”  
  
“I know,” Sungmin said in a soothing tone and wrapped an arm around Eunhyuk’s waist. “I can’t believe he is gone…or any of them. It just seems so unreal.”  
  
Eunhyuk leaned into Sungmin. “His parents and his brother will never know what happened to him.”  
  
“They will…we will tell them someday.”  
  
“We have to get home first.”  
  
“The captain will get us home.”  
  
The ensign pulled away from Sungmin and refrained from asking how such a thing was possible when the captain showed no interest in going home, but he knew such words would not be welcomed by the other man. Eunhyuk hated it but his faith in Captain Leeteuk had been severely diminished while on Pixxel. Ensign SungGyu had succeeded where Junsu had failed, and now Eunhyuk saw all of Leeteuk’s flaws and he severely regretted the day Leeteuk took over the ship.  
  
“What?” Sungmin asked, unable to hide his worry at the other man’s sudden withdrawal from him.  
  
Eunhyuk swallowed uncomfortably and looked out at the crowd of people on the streets, searching for a distraction. He did not want to share his doubts with the security officer. Sungmin’s loyalty to Captain Leeteuk was absolute and Eunhyuk didn’t feel like fighting with another friend. “Oh, look there is Ensign SungGyu and Dr. Nam,” he exclaimed relieved to see familiar faces. He pointed to the two men in the near distance. “Let’s go talk to them.”  
  
“Okay…” Sungmin agreed as he followed after Eunhyuk.  
  
Eunhyuk slowed as he approached the two other men, quickly noticing they were having an intense conversation.  
  
Sungmin took Eunhyuk by the arm and pulled him closer to the two men, who appeared to be fighting verbally.  
  
“WooHyun, I do not wish to hurt your feelings but this continued delusion of yours…that we are in some kind of romantic relationship is growing tedious.” Sungmin and Eunhyuk heard SungGyu tell the young doctor as they neared.  
  
“You are the one that first kissed me!”  
  
SungGyu looked highly irritated but his tone remained completely calm. “I believe you have a very selective memory. If I recall correctly…and I do, you blackmailed me into kissing you. The options were to kiss you or stay in jail and allow the captain to die.”  
  
“I said on the cheek, but you kissed me on the lips.”  
  
“Because it was the only area on your face that was not covered by pustules,” SungGyu reminded the doctor, remaining calm.  
  
“Then later that same day you kissed me again!”  
  
“To distract a Joong, not because I was attracted to you.”  
  
“Bullshit! You admitted that you were attracted to me! When we were with Junsu in sickbay you admitted it!”  
  
“Yes, I do recall saying that…but it was for Junsu’s benefit.”  
  
“So you were lying?”  
  
“No…I did have a fleeting attraction to you, initially.”  
  
A hurt WooHyun took a step back as if he couldn’t believe the other man’s words. “ _Initially_ …I don’t believe you…you said we had a thing…a thing between us.”  
  
“I said we could have had something between us if you hadn’t ended up my roommate. I told you nothing could happen after that. Did you think I was pining away for you? I promise you I haven’t been. You are a treasured friend and a respected colleague…but that is all you are to me.”  
  
“Is that…is that all…I thought…it can’t be all…” a shaken WooHyun sputtered.  
  
SungGyu looked out at the crowd and caught sight of Sungmin and Eunhyuk, who were watching and whispered to the doctor, “We are creating a scene. We will discuss this later.”  
  
WooHyun folded his arms tightly in front of his chest. “Of course…I wouldn’t want to create a scene. You hurry off with SooYoung…I am sure you two will find inventive ways to pass the time.”  
  
“Please, don’t be like this and don’t do anything you will regret.”  
  
“The only thing I regret…is the day I met you!” WooHyun shouted at the ensign. “The day I gave up everything I knew and had worked for…for you! Everyone I had ever known!”  
  
SungGyu looked as if had been slapped and told the distraught man, “I am truly sorry, but I can not change how I feel. The fact that I do not have romantic feelings for you in no way diminishes the friendship I feel for you. When I thought you might have died on Pixxel I was truly terrified. Not all relationships are destined to be romantic in nature, but that does not decrease their significance.”  
  
“Go!” WooHyun shouted.  
  
Eunhyuk and Sungmin watched as SungGyu turned and took his leave of the doctor. Sungmin immediately walked up to the doctor and placed a comforting hand on his back. “Are you okay, Doctor Nam?”  
  
WooHyun just shook his head.  
  
Eunhyuk’s eyes followed after SungGyu in the crowd. He watched in amazement as he saw SooYoung emerge from a crowd of onlookers where she had been quietly waiting for him unobserved. His jaw dropped open as he watched them embrace and head for one of the many hotels that lined the street. “He is…he is really with her. I knew Jonghyun suspected it, but I didn’t know he was really with her.”  
  
“Well, now you know,” WooHyun snapped, looking both hurt and annoyed.  
  
“They really are an item?” Sungmin asked, unable to hide his own pleasant surprise. He knew that SooYoung had beamed down to the planet alone, but he had never dreamed she was meeting up with Ensign SungGyu.  
  
Eunhyuk nodded his head and eagerly explained, “They just hugged and headed for one of those hotels…you know…the sex hotels.”  
  
WooHyun dropped his hands to his side and pleaded, “Can you not? I do not want to know that!”  
  
“I am sorry,” Eunhyuk apologized. “No wonder you were so upset on Pixxel when you overheard us talking about them.”  
  
“Yeah,” WooHyun confessed, looking down at his feet. “I am sorry I got so angry with you…but I could see it happening before my very eyes and I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I gave up my whole life to be with him…and I’ll only ever be his treasured friend.”  
  
A smiling Sungmin rubbed WooHyun’s back and declared, “That sucks.”  
  
“You don’t look too upset by the news,” Eunhyuk snapped at his friend, noticing the happiness almost exuding off the lieutenant.  
  
“I just thought…I thought she was interested in Siwon,” Sungmin admitted, still rubbing WooHyun’s back. “It’s kinda good to know that for once…I really was just being insecure.”  
  
WooHyun frowned. “I am so glad my misfortune benefits you.”  
  
“Oh, I know I sound awful, but let me make it up to you. I will buy us all drinks,” Sungmin offered.  
  
WooHyun nodded his head. “I could use a drink…a real drink.”  
  
“Me, too,” Eunhyuk agreed. “Not that synthehol shit.”  
  
“Then follow me,” Sungmin told them as they headed for a bar that was across the street. He tried to hide the bounce in his step and his sense of relief. He would help them feel better and then he would be off to find Siwon.  
  
He knew he had a lot of apologizing to do.


	2. Abandon Ship!

“And he just keeps on breaking my heart,” WooHyun lamented before grabbing another bottle of alcohol and guzzling it down. He was at the saloon with Sungmin and Eunhyuk sitting at the bar. The saloon was half empty with only a few patrons scattered throughout it, minding their own business.  
  
Sungmin patted the doctor on the back. “It must be hard.”  
  
WooHyun set the now empty bottle of alcohol down on the counter in front of them. “It’s not like he even means to…it’s like he put me in the friend zone, and all I can ever be to him now…is just a friend.”  
  
Eunhyuk nodded his head and sympathized. “It sucks to be friend zoned.”  
  
WooHyun grabbed another bottle, brought it to his lips and then set it back down without taking a drink. “It does…and I would do anything for him. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for him.”  
  
“To be fair,” Eunhyuk said. “You haven’t known each other that long.”  
  
Sungmin bumped Eunhyuk with his shoulder and protested, “That doesn’t matter…sometimes you just know.”  
  
“I knew,” WooHyun said softly. “I knew I’d love him…for always. I just knew, but now I also know he will never relent. He has made a decision and he won’t change his mind.”  
  
“Men like him…they don’t ever relent…do they?” Sungmin said wistfully. “When they decide to love someone they love them forever, and if they don’t love you—there isn’t anything you can do to make them love you.”  
  
Eunhyuk turned his head to look at Sungmin, knowing exactly what experiences the other man spoke of. “Maybe it is a command thing…they can’t doubt themselves. They have to be confident and have strong convictions about what they do…the decisions they make. They can’t afford to have doubts.”  
  
“Maybe,” WooHyun agreed. “I just wish…I just wish it was different, but I know it will only get harder for me.”  
  
Sungmin winced, feeling the doctor’s pain. “Do you want me to move you to different quarters? I honestly don’t know why I ever had you two sharing quarters to begin with.”  
  
WooHyun cleared his throat nervously;  _he_ remembered very well why Sungmin had roomed him with SungGyu. “I think I will just…I don’t want another room.”  
  
Eunhyuk frowned, confused. “Why do you still want to room with him?”  
  
“Because…because…I have to know what is going on,” WooHyun struggled to explain. “Even if it kills me…I have to know. I…I want to be with him…even if he doesn’t want me.”  
  
Eunhyuk set his bottle of liquor down. “That is just pathetic.”  
  
“No, no, no,” Sungmin chimed in. “It makes perfect sense. I completely understand. I knew Kyuhyun didn’t want me…but I wanted to live with him so badly.”  
  
WooHyun sighed wistfully. “Love is so complicated.”  
  
Sungmin gently clinked his bottle of alcohol against WooHyun’s and proclaimed, “Indeed it is.”  
  
Eunhyuk, who had lowered his head and was resting it against the top of the bar whimpered, “Friendship…is hard, too. I was the worst friend to Junsu.”  
  
“That is a lie,” Sungmin, who was sitting between the two men at the bar, admonished. “You are a wonderful friend. You are a wonderful friend to me, a wonderful friend to Donghae and you were a wonderful friend to Junsu.”  
  
“No, I wasn’t…I have so many regrets.”  
  
Sungmin involuntarily shuddered and reached for one of the many bottles of alcohol that lined the bar in front of them. “You are not alone…the regrets I have…they could fill the void of space.”  
  
WooHyun turned to look at the security chief curiously and asked, “What kind of regrets do you have, Lieutenant?”  
  
Sungmin took sip from his bottle and admitted, “I wasn’t even going to drink…and now look at me!”  
  
“It’s okay; we are here to mourn…it must be hard for you,” WooHyun gently coaxed.  
  
“It is,” Sungmin confessed, taking another drink. “I can never…I broke them.”  
  
“Broke?”  
  
“Kyuhyun and Ryeowook,” Sungmin answered the doctor sadly. “I broke them…and they were never made right again.”  
  
Eunhyuk lifted his head and blurted out in the chief security officer’s defense, “Kyuhyun helped…he didn’t have to sleep with you. Nobody forced him.”  
  
“Ryeowook was my best friend…and I coveted his husband our entire friendship,” Sungmin professed. “I destroyed them…they used to be so happy, and now they are dead and because of me they never found their lost happiness.”  
  
WooHyun’s eyes widened, surprised by the declaration. “So you slept with Kyuhyun without Ryeowook’s permission?”  
  
Sungmin solemnly nodded his head.  
  
A drunken Eunhyuk slapped Sungmin’s back and said with a slurred voice, “You thought he was dead.”  
  
WooHyun, who looked as confused as he felt, questioned, “Then it…was okay…Wasn’t it?”  
  
“No,” Sungmin answered gravely. “It wasn’t…we didn’t even wait until his body was cold.”  
  
“His body was dead...I mean he wasn’t dead, his body wasn’t ever cold,” Eunhyuk insisted. “It wasn’t really cheating…because…because you thought he was dead.”  
  
Sungmin squeezed his eyes shut, letting a single tear escape. “I had it bad for Kyuhyun…since the first time I saw him…” Sungmin paused and looked at WooHyun. “Like you and SungGyu…you know what I am talking about.”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“Kyuhyun used to be such a jerk…a real asshole back in the academy…no one knew why then…we just followed him like little lambs…little lambs following their shepherd.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“Because his parents were so powerful,” Eunhyuk answered. “His parents…they were very powerful admirals. His mom…man, I used to dream of serving under her.”  
  
“That isn’t why I followed him,” Sungmin insisted. “I followed him because I dreamed of fixing him…making him a good person. No, that isn’t entirely true…I dreamed of being the one person he would be nice to…I wanted him to show a soft side to me. A soft side he showed to no one else. I wanted to be the exception.”  
  
WooHyun took another drink. “And you weren’t?”  
  
“No, he…he slept with everybody back then, but not with me,” Sungmin said with a sigh. “I used to think it was because…because I meant something to him…I was special.”  
  
“No,” Eunhyuk added, shaking his head. “You were too pathetic even back then.”  
  
Sungmin turned to glare at his friend.  
  
“Umm…you really cared for him,” Eunhyuk quickly added. “He didn’t want that…he wanted meaningless sexual romps.”  
  
WooHyun tilted to the side, almost falling off of his stool. “He sounds like a real gem to me.”  
  
Sungmin slapped both hands down on the bar. “But that was just his image…his protective shield…not the real him. You can’t imagine how he suffered when he was a kid…but never mind that. The point is that he wasn’t really bad…he just acted badly to protect himself. Once he got with Ryeowook he completely changed…he became perfect, and I only wanted him more…I could see it happening, so I befriended Ryeowook…so I could be closer to Kyuhyun.”  
  
WooHyun, who was tightly holding on to the bar in front of him to keep from losing his balance, scolded, “That wasn’t very nice.”  
  
“Nope,” Eunhyuk agreed. “You were sneaky.”  
  
“I was a backstabber…except I never stabbed anyone…not until I thought Ryeowook was dead…then I did the stabbing.”  
  
A very drunk Eunhyuk teased, “Weren’t you the one stabbed?”  
  
A confused Sungmin questioned, “Huh?”  
  
Eunhyuk clarified, “Don’t you get it…you got stabbed by Kyuhyun’s cock.”  
  
A tipsy WooHyun grimaced and declared, “You are kinda an idiot.”  
  
“He is,” Sungmin agreed. “That he is.”  
  
  
****************  
  
  
  
“Do you really expect me to lower myself to such a level? Really?”  
  
Yunho closed his eyes and called on his shortening supply of patience to calmly reply to his mate, “Yes, really.”  
  
“First…I have to sleep…with all of them,” Jaejoong spat as he towered over his mate, who was lying on his back looking up at the fuming Joong. They were in the cave with the other crewmembers. All of them were resting in a circle surrounding the rocks they had warmed with the phaser, attempting to sleep.  
  
Yoochun just groaned and rolled over on his belly, not even bothering with a sarcastic reply.  
  
Yunho reached up and rubbed his forehead. “Jaejoong, everyone is tired.”  
  
“You are not tired…you are just sleeping because they have to.”  
  
“Believe me…I’m tired.”  
  
“Is there innuendo in your statement?” Jaejoong asked, snapping at his mate. “Are you hinting perhaps that I am being tiring?”  
  
“No.”  
  
“Forgive me if the thought of sleeping on a dead animal’s pelt disgusts and horrifies me. On second thought, don’t you dare forgive me…there is nothing to forgive! I am right!”  
  
Yunho slowly got up and picked up the fur that he and Jaejoong had been resting on and threw it at Ryeowook. The young doctor had spent most of the day preparing it for the pregnant Joong. “Here Dr. Cho, reap the reward of all your hard work today.”  
  
Ryeowook grabbed the thick pelt. “Thanks, Captain. It will be nice and soft to sleep on.”  
  
Yunho smiled back at Jaejoong. “There…we can sleep on grass and twigs like everyone else. Forgive me for thinking you might enjoy something softer.”  
  
Jaejoong brushed his blond hair out of his face and snottily stated, “I can’t sleep in the same vicinity as Junsu—he stinks.”  
  
Junsu started getting up. “I’m sorry. I promise to try eggs tomorrow. I don’t mean—”  
  
“Junsu, lie back down and go to sleep,” Yunho ordered in a sharp tone and the ensign immediately followed the command.  
  
“I refuse to sleep,” Jaejoong insisted. “If I fall asleep I will forget to hold my breath and I will once again be assaulted by that rancid smell!”  
  
“Jaejoong…”  
  
“Don’t you  _Jaejoong_ me, Yunho! And don’t you use that captain’s voice on me! It won’t work!” Jaejoong shouted. “We can walk farther down into one of the tunnels and sleep! We don’t need to stay here! We could go to a nice pool of water and relax! You know I love water!”  
  
“No, we are not separating from the group! I have told you this repeatedly,” Yunho stated, his patience running low.  
  
“And who declared you King?” Jaejoong asked, refusing to give in. “If I want to go down to a pool of water I will. I am the only royalty here! You are my consort at best!”  
  
“I am going outside,” Kyuhyun, who had been trying his best to sleep, declared as he hastily got to his feet. “Maybe a dinosaur will eat me…I am sure it would be a more peaceful death than staying here and listening to this.”  
  
Yunho’s mouth dropped open as he looked at the exasperated commander.  
  
Kyuhyun quickly rethought his outburst and added, “If that is okay with you…Sir.”  
  
“Yeah…it’s fine,” Yunho told the commander. “But take the phaser with you.”  
  
Kyuhyun bent over and scooped up the phaser. “I will just be outside the cave.”  
  
Ryeowook gave Yunho a look, seeking permission to follow after his husband. Yunho nodded his head and the doctor swiftly followed after Kyuhyun.  
  
“What gall!” Jaejoong growled as he walked over and snatched up the pelt that Ryeowook had been resting on. “Like he and Ryeowook haven’t been having the same fight since the day I met them.”  
  
Yunho side-eyed his mate as the Joong placed the pelt back on the ground beside Yunho and sat down on it. “So you want it now?”  
  
Jaejoong scoffed as he motioned for his bondmate to join him. “I am tired, Yunho. You know Joongs can get tired and I can indulge myself with a little sleep if I want. This endless racket is keeping me awake. I am pregnant you know. I could give birth anytime. I need my rest, come hold me.”  
  
  
**************  
  
  
Ryeowook found Kyuhyun sitting on the ground leaning against the cave’s entrance. “You were being a little sassy.”  
  
Kyuhyun patted the ground beside him and admitted, “I don’t know if sassy is the word I would use to describe my behavior but I was a little bit perturbed…but I also had an ulterior motive.”  
  
The doctor grinned as he sat down by the commander and coyly asked, “Tell me about this ulterior motive?”  
  
“I have noticed if you ruffle Jaejoong’s feathers he usually ends up taking the high road. He’s probably already asleep in there.”  
  
Ryeowook quickly hid his disappointment. “That’s very insightful…I think you might be right.”  
  
“I am,” Kyuhyun confidently stated. “This method will only work for a while though.”  
  
“True…once Changmin is born Jaejoong will be on to you.”  
  
“Yes, he will be,” Kyuhyun agreed as he raised an arm and draped it around Ryeowook. “Now, as to my second motivation…”  
  
Ryeowook beamed with happiness. “And that is?”  
  
“Some alone time…so we can we talk without prying ears.”  
  
“Talking is good.”  
  
“It is.”  
  
Kyuhyun looked up at the stars and pointed out, “This is the second time you have been stranded on a planet.”  
  
“It is.”  
  
“It must bring back a lot of memories.”  
  
“Not good memories.”  
  
“I can only imagine,” Kyuhyun said, sympathizing. “You must have been fighting to keep Sulli and SooYoung alive.”  
  
“I was,” Ryeowook agreed. “I was also struggling to keep Leeteuk alive. Their care required all of my attention for weeks.  
  
“On the ship…it was no better. The dead were everywhere…and more were dying…it was like some living nightmare…and Heechul was no help, no help at all. I don’t know how the captain kept us alive and sane.”  
  
“I am so sorry…you have to keep going through these things…these terrible things.”  
  
Kyuhyun closed his eyes. “I must have been a really awful person in a previous life.”  
  
“No,” Ryeowook disagreed. “My Grandma had a saying.”  
  
“She had… _has_ a lot of sayings.”  
  
“She does, but this one I agree with,” Ryeowook told his husband. “She says God doesn’t give you more than you can handle.”  
  
“That isn’t true,” Kyuhyun refuted. “I couldn’t handle you being gone…the thought of you being dead. Everything else life has thrown at me…I could handle, but the thought of never seeing you again…I couldn’t handle that.”  
  
Ryeowook leaned against Kyuhyun and gently explained to his husband, “But don’t you see…that’s why he gave me back to you.”  
  
  
  
***************************  
  
  
SungGyu was sleeping soundly on the sofa.  
  
He had collapsed on it after a grueling day in engineering, not bothering to change out of his uniform. He had only been asleep a couple of hours when the door chimed. His eyes flew open, he was immediately alert.  
  
He got up, headed for the door, and commanded, “Open.”  
  
The door whooshed open to show four very nervous looking ensigns. All of them were actual academy graduates, unlike SungGyu.  
  
He recognized them as being the night crew that ran engineering. “Why are you not in engineering?”  
  
The oldest of the ensigns, Ensign Lee, stepped forward and explained, “Commander Ji-Hoon dismissed us.”  
  
“Dismissed you?”  
  
The older ensign quickly nodded his head. “Yes, he dismissed  _all_  of us.”  
  
SungGyu’s alarm grew. “When you say  _all_  of you…do you mean just the four of you?”  
  
“No…he dismissed  _everyone_  from engineering.”  
  
Another ensign spoke up to clarify, “He said he felt bad that we had to work so hard when others got to sleep. He told us to go get a good night’s sleep, so we could go on shore leave in the morning.”  
  
“So who is running engineering?”  
  
The ensigns grimaced and said together, “Commander Ji-Hoon.”  
  
SungGyu’s tone went up several octaves as he blurted out, “Commander Ji-Hoon is the only one in engineering!”  
  
The ensigns all nodded their heads and the oldest of them explained, “Commander Yoochun always said we should come to you with problems…and this is a big problem.”  
  
“Crap!” was SungGyu’s only response as he pushed past the ensigns and ran down the corridor toward engineering.  
  
WooHyun, who had been awakened by the commotion, stumbled out of the bedroom toward the door in time to see SungGyu rush off. WooHyun wiped his sleepy eyes and focused on the group of ensigns standing at the doorway. “What is going on?”  
  
Ensign Lee explained, “Commander Ji-Hoon dismissed all of the crew working in engineering…he is attempting to run it by himself.”  
  
Noticing the dire looks on the ensign’s faces, WooHyun quickly concluded, “And that is a  _bad_  thing?”  
  
“It’s insane…insanely bad,” Ensign Lee quickly replied with the other ensigns vigorously nodding their heads in agreement. “Even Commander Yoochun would not have attempted it.”  
  
“But why did you tell Ensign SungGyu and not the captain?” WooHyun asked as he anxiously looked down the corridor in the direction the other man had ran off in.  
  
“Well…” Ensign Lee paused carefully. “The captain seems to think Commander Ji-Hoon is capable of running engineering…but neither one of them are engineers…so maybe they don’t know how dangerous it is…and it is _very_  dangerous.”  
  
“Crap,” WooHyun declared, echoing SungGyu as he took off after his roommate.  
  
WooHyun sped down the corridor toward the lift, almost barreling into Ensign Henry as they both barged into the lift at the same time. Henry immediately ordered the lift to take them to the lower levels where the engineering department was.  
  
“Henry, did someone tell you what is going on?”  
  
“Yes,” Henry gasped, catching his breath. “SungGyu just called me…apparently Commander Ji-Hoon is running engineering by himself…and that is crazy. He isn’t an engineer, not even close…plus, he’s squirrely in the head.”  
  
WooHyun darted his eyes at the frantic engineering prodigy. “It will be okay. I am sure you two can handle him.”  
  
“I am not sure,” Henry admitted. “I can’t imagine that he’d let them go…so they could have a break. He has to have something in mind…some ulterior motive and that scares me.”  
  
WooHyun’s concern grew. “What do you mean?”  
  
The lift opened and Henry hurried out with WooHyun right behind him. “I mean he is crazy. Like, really crazy and he has the power to do anything in engineering…anything he wants.”  
  
WooHyun thought back to all the times Commander Ji-Hoon had met with Dr. Heechul behind closed doors. “Do you think he—”  
  
WooHyun stopped midsentence as red lights starting flashing and the ship’s computer announced, “RED ALERT! RED ALERT! WARP CORE BREACH IMMEDIATE. ALL HANDS ABANDON SHIP. ALL HANDS ABANDON SHIP.”  
  
“Fuck!” Henry exclaimed and increased his pace to engineering only to be stopped by the confinement field that was now isolating engineering from the rest of the ship. “This is exactly what I feared.”  
  
WooHyun reached out and touched the field and immediately jerked his hand back after being shocked. “We have to get to SungGyu”  
  
Henry shook his head and he tried to catch a glance of what was going on inside engineering. “We can’t with the force field up.”  
  
“Will the force field protect the ship?”  
  
“No,” Henry answered. “It might give us an extra couple of seconds at most to evacuate the ship, but that is all. Nothing will protect us if the antimatter containment field is lost. If anti-matter and normal matter come in contact the explosion will be catastrophic and the ship will be destroyed.”  
  
“I have to get in there.”  
  
“You can’t.”  
  
“No, you don’t understand. I have to get in there,” WooHyun insisted as he walked over to the emergency medical station located in the wall and grabbed a med kit. “If Commander Ji-Hoon is crazy, then maybe I can help.”  
  
“No, you don’t understand. I couldn’t get you in there even if I wanted to,” Henry tried to explain. “I can’t drop this force field and you can’t beam through it.”  
  
“I thought you were some kind of engineering genius? Surely you can get me in there,” a desperate WooHyun pleaded. “You have to try! He needs my help—he needs your help!”  
  
A rattled Henry quickly explained, “I am a genius, but even if I could somehow pull off the impossible and beam you inside there…the transporters are all being used by people evacuating the ship…which is exactly what we should be doing.”  
  
“No,” WooHyun stated defiantly. “I won’t abandon him. I know he is in there trying to save the ship…and he needs our help!”  
  
Henry rubbed his head, focusing his mind on finding a solution to their problem. “I know…it’s just…it’s...”  
  
“It’s what?” WooHyun asked as he noticed a change in the other man.  
  
The progeny quickly headed toward a console and mumbled under his breath as his ran mental calculations in his head, “Perhaps I could weaken the force field just enough for you to pass through it.”  
  
“Now, that is what I am talking about!”  
  
  
**********************  
  
  
“Ah, Lieutenant Donghae and Ensign Jonghyun, you two have finally arrived. Were you the last to abandon ship?”  
  
Lieutenant Donghae, who had just beamed down to Zilax from the Expectations, answered, “No, Doctor Nam and Ensign Henry are still aboard the ship…they refused to be beamed down…since Ensign SungGyu was still aboard.”  
  
“I understand,” Captain Leeteuk, who was surrounded by anxious crew members, answered in a mournful tone. “It is understandable; loyalty is an admirable characteristic among the brave. It is hard to leave a man behind, especially a friend.”  
  
Ensign Eunhyuk grudgingly added, “And let’s not forget Commander Ji-Hoon who is still aboard the ship sabotaging it.”  
  
Lieutenant Yesung, who was standing beside Eunhyuk, looked past the crowd gathered around Leeteuk to where Heechul was monitoring Sulli’s stasis chamber and mumbled under his breath, “Too bad nobody noticed he was bat-shit crazy.”  
  
Lieutenant Donghae followed Yesung’s gaze but said nothing.  
  
“I should have stayed on board,” Ensign Jonghyun said in a voice of regret. “I could have helped. I should be there with them. I shouldn’t be here.”  
  
“Nonsense,” Ensign Minho told his friend as he walked up to stand beside him. “Ensign Henry is completely capable of running the transporters and Ensign SungGyu, too.”  
  
“No, I still should have stayed. You don’t understand…” Jonghyun paused to look at Eunhyuk. “We are a team.”  
  
Eunhyuk swallowed guiltily as he met the young transporter ensign’s gaze, knowing exactly how the other man felt.  
  
Ensign Kangin, who stood beside the captain, eyed their leader critically. “Captain, why are you here?”  
  
Leeteuk turned his focus on Kangin. “Perhaps, by any chance, did you miss the announcement about a pending warp core breach?”  
  
Kangin did not bother to hide his scorn. “So you left the ship’s fate in the hands of two green ensigns and a doctor we picked up on some backwards planet?”  
  
Leeteuk’s eyes slightly narrowed, but his voice remained calm. “Two engineering ensigns…who are far from green and who volunteered to stay behind. I am no engineer. What could I possibly contribute to the situation?”  
  
Kangin just stared at the captain, unable to believe his ears.  
  
Sungmin, who was on the other side of Leeteuk, immediately spoke up on the captain’s behalf. “Ensign Kangin, surely you don’t believe in that old saying that a captain must go down with the ship.”  
  
Kangin, who had never liked Sungmin to begin with, sneered at him. “Yeah, I do. Maybe the captain could talk some sense into Commander Ji-Hoon…provide some leadership. Forgive me if I still believe the captain should be braver than two low ranking—”  
  
“Kangin, let’s take a walk,” Lieutenant SooYoung stated firmly as she took Kangin by the hand.  
  
Kangin whirled around having not even noticed the female lieutenant was nearby. “Why? Is it because I’m saying what everyone else is thinking…well everybody except for that weasel Sungmin? Commander Ji-Hoon should have never been in charge of engineering! Hell, he wasn’t an engineer to begin with!”  
  
“Please!” SooYoung insisted as Ensigns Minho, DongWoo and MyungSoo appeared at her side.  
  
Ensign DongWoo pleaded, “Sir, let us all take a walk, please.”  
  
Sungmin, who was still standing beside Leeteuk, watched as Kangin was practically dragged off by the others. “Sir, I am so sorry. Should I do something?”  
  
A slightly amused Leeteuk just shook his head. “Lieutenant Sungmin, it is a dire circumstance and he is still suffering from the loss of his closest friends. No doubt he is thinking the late Commander Jung would never have abandoned ship. His behavior is completely understandable.”  
  
Sungmin frowned.  
  
“Well, except the part where he called you a weasel. That was entirely inappropriate…you are exceptionally loyal and hardworking. You have absolutely nothing in common with weasels.”  
  
  
**************  
  
  
Ryeowook’s body slightly shook as he inhaled a deep breath and slowly exhaled.  
  
For hours on end he had been fighting a constant battle to keep Junsu alive; a battle he had thought he had lost more than once.  
  
Night had fallen on the portion of the planet they inhabited and the only light inside the cave was provided by the heated rocks. They all surrounded the critically ill man, safeguarding him.  
  
Yunho, who sat across from Ryeowook, was holding Junsu’s hand as he watched the younger man’s chest rise and fall. “He really is breathing…he’s breathing.”  
  
“Yes,” the doctor answered softly.  
  
Hours earlier Junsu had taken a bite of eggs and only seconds later he had been gasping for breath as a severe allergic reaction attempted to rob him of life.  
  
All the crew had taken turns breathing for the younger man as Ryeowook struggled to keep his heart going and his mind undamaged. He had to call upon every piece of medical knowledge he had ever learned…while being without any of the advanced medical equipment he so desperately needed.  
  
Jaejoong, who was on Yunho’s left, asked, “Is he breathing through his mouth or the hole in his neck?”  
  
“Through his mouth,” Ryeowook replied as he forced his hands to stop shaking. He took a small piece of uniform that had been cut off, sterilized by the phaser, and placed it over the hole in Junsu’s neck. “The swelling is down.”  
  
Yoochun, who was sitting on Yunho’s right side, said nothing as he just stared at the younger man that had almost died several times during the day.  
  
“Human life is so fragile…” Jaejoong declared, shaking his head. “You all should have Joong mates.”  
  
Yunho leaned over and kissed his lover on the cheek. “Are you going to fix them up with some Joongs?”  
  
Jaejoong met his lover’s gaze. “I might…it is very discomforting how you people are always trying to die. This is not the first time Junsu has almost died in my presence.”  
  
“No,” Yunho agreed, looking back down at the ensign, who was steadily breathing on his own. “Vampires and eggs are not his friends.”  
  
“Don’t forget, Changmin almost killed him on Belara,” Jaejoong reminded his mate.  
  
Yunho looked at Ryeowook, remembering the other lives that had been in danger that day. “I haven’t forgotten.”  
  
“And then there is you…you are always trying to die.”  
  
“I am not always trying to die,” Yunho protested. “Can we not have this conversation again?”  
  
“Yes, we are having it. You are always trying to die…if it were not for my healing abilities you would be dead by now. Like I said, humans are fragile.”  
  
“I am not fragile.”  
  
Kyuhyun, who was sitting by the doctor, ignored the couple and leaned in to whisper, “Is it safe for you to take a bit of a break?”  
  
Ryeowook turned to look at Kyuhyun. “A bit?”  
  
Kyuhyun encircled Ryeowook’s wrist with his hand. “Just for a few minutes.”  
  
“Okay…” Ryeowook said hesitantly as he turned to face Yunho. “He should be fine…I will be back shortly. If anything changes…just yell for me.”  
  
“I will,” Jaejoong replied for Yunho. “I will yell loudly, very loudly.”  
  
“Go take a break,” Yunho told Ryeowook. “You deserve it.”  
  
Ryeowook reluctantly got to his feet with Kyuhyun’s help. He felt unsteady, as if his legs weren’t touching the ground. He knew he was feeling the aftereffects of the enormous adrenaline rush he had been on.  
  
Kyuhyun led him away from the others and into one of the tunnels that led to one of the hot springs that was further back in the cave. Ryeowook stopped and tugged on his husband’s arm. “I can’t be that far away. I wouldn’t feel right.”  
  
The light was dim but Ryeowook could see Kyuhyun nod his head in agreement as he gently pushed Ryeowook up against the wall of the cave.  
  
He opened his mouth to object but before he could say a word Kyuhyun’s mouth collided with his and all his protests fell away. The kiss was perfect and as sweet as any from their past. It didn’t hold any of the anger, blame, or hurt that had discolored all of their encounters since Sungmin had confessed all his sins in a fever induced delirium. The last two years of misery fell away and sweetness gave way to welcomed passion.  
  
With one kiss he knew everything would be all right. For so long he had feared that this part of their relationship was lost, but as the intensity of the kiss built he knew he had been mistaken.  
  
Memories of their first real kiss flashed in his mind and all the vows they had ever made to each other were reaffirmed. He felt the promise of the future; a future he would share with the only man he had ever loved, or would ever love.  
  
Kyuhyun pulled away from the kiss and Ryeowook quickly leaned forward, searching for more of the beloved lips he had so desperately missed. Kyuhyun just smiled, pushing him back against the wall as he dropped to his knees. Ryeowook froze in anticipation as he felt Kyuhyun slide his pants down past his knees. Before he had time to even articulate a thought, Kyuhyun’s mouth was on him.  
  
It has been too long, much too long.  
  
Tears glided down his cheeks as happiness, relief, and passion all blurred into one overwhelming emotion. It was over almost before it started; Ryeowook cried out as Kyuhyun quickly brought him to climax. The stress he had been burdened with during the day…for the past few years slipped away as his whole body shuddered with release. His legs turned to jelly and his knees buckled as the tension left his body. He would have fallen if Kyuhyun hadn’t caught him and slowly lowered him to the ground.  
  
Ryeowook sat in a blissful daze as Kyuhyun swiftly refastened his pants. His mind was unable to compute the miracle that had just happened.  
  
Kyuhyun sat down beside him and asked, “Feel better?”  
  
Ryeowook leaned against his husband and smiled brightly. “Yes…God, yes.”  
  
Kyuhyun chuckled, wrapped an arm around his husband, and pulled him close. “Good.”  
  
“I just…I just…thank you.”  
  
“You don’t have to thank me.”  
  
“I…feel…feel…like I should…because…thank you. I should—”  
  
“You should continue being amazing,” Kyuhyun said, interrupting the other man. “You are amazing.”  
  
Ryeowook turned his head to look Kyuhyun in the face. He let out a small whimper when even through the dimness of the cave he could see the look of love and pride emanating from Kyuhyun’s face. Ryeowook reached up and wiped the side of Kyuhyun’s mouth. “I love you.”  
  
“And I love you.”  
  
“We are…we really are fixed?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“We should have gotten stranded sooner.”  
  
Kyuhyun laughed. “Now we know.”  
  
“Next time we have martial problems we know what—”  
  
“No,” Kyuhyun stated firmly, interrupting Ryeowook. “There will be no more. It isn’t allowed.”  
  
“Agreed…no more.”  
  
“Never, ever…” Kyuhyun vowed as he leaned forward and kissed his husband tenderly on the lips. Ryeowook kissed him back and secretly wished they could stay in the moment forever, but he knew better.  
  
With deep regret Ryeowook groaned, hating himself as he broke free from the kiss and whined apologetically, “I have to get back…Junsu is too unstable for me to be away for this long.”  
  
“I know,” Kyuhyun replied, standing up and reaching out his hand for his husband. “I hate it, but I completely understand.”  
  
Ryeowook took Kyuhyun’s hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. “I really wish we…we had more time.”  
  
Kyuhyun squeezed Ryeowook’s hand and led him back toward the others. “We will make time…we will.”  
  
Ryeowook couldn’t stop smiling. “Do you think they heard?”  
  
Kyuhyun looked down at his shorter husband. “They heard…you were  _kinda_ loud.”  
  
Ryeowook stopped in his tracks and cringed. “It had been…a long…long time.”  
  
“I know; believe me, I know,” Kyuhyun replied as he pushed Ryeowook toward the others. “You have to face them.”  
  
“Oh, they are going to give me hell.”  
  
“Well, Yoochun will,” Kyuhyun conceded.  
  
“And Jaejoong, too.”  
  
“You still have to face them…for Junsu.”  
  
“I know,” the doctor agreed, then inhaled a deep breath and cast his embarrassment aside, refusing to let anything or anyone dampen the happiness he was feeling. He resolutely walked into the area of the cave the crew had made their home. He found Yoochun and Jaejoong sitting together with their arms tightly folded against their chests; they resembled pouting children who had just been scolded. Yunho, who was standing over them, looked at Kyuhyun and Ryeowook as they returned. “Doctor, he hasn’t woken up yet.”  
  
“That’s good, he needs his rest,” Ryeowook stated as he sat back down by Junsu. “His breathing is still good.”  
  
Kyuhyun sat down beside his husband. Yoochun and Jaejoong remained silent, like well-behaved children. Yunho hovered over them and said hopefully, “Nope, it hasn’t changed at all. Hopefully, the worst is over.”  
  
The doctor smiled and glanced at Kyuhyun before declaring, “The worst is definitely over.”  
  
  
*********************  
  
  
SungGyu was pretty sure his number one life motto was about to be broken in a glorious fashion.  
  
Commander Ji-Hoon had a maniacal look on his face and none of SungGyu’s reasonable words were penetrating through his madness. The commander was carefully balancing himself, while standing on the protective railing that surrounded the warp core. The hatch to the reaction chamber was wide open and SungGyu couldn’t even imagine what the commander had done.  
  
“WARP CORE BREACH IMMINENT. ALL HANDS ABANDON SHIP. ALL HANDS ABANDON SHIP,” the computer announced.  
  
“I will be free…free…free…free…free…” Commander Ji-Hoon sang. “I will finally be free. Free! Free!”  
  
SungGyu was at the control panel closest to the warp core and the calculations that had been entered to bypass the ship’s safety measures were beyond his understanding. He was confidant they were also beyond the commander’s ability. “Sir, where did you get these calculations?”  
  
“Free…free…free…free,” the commander continued to sing, ignoring the ensign. “Free…free…no more nothing…free…free.”  
  
SungGyu hurried away from the control panel, rushed to the commander, and jerked him down from the railing. “Sir, I do not have time for this, stop this! Tell me how to stop the breach.”  
  
“No!” Commander Ji-Hoon screamed as he pulled a concealed phaser out from underneath his clothing. “No! You can’t stop it! I will finally be free! It will be over! Even I can’t survive this!”  
  
“Sir, nobody can survive this,” SungGyu stated, attempting to remain calm as he backed away. “You will destroy the ship.”  
  
“I don’t care! I don’t care! It will be over! I don’t care about this stupid vessel or the measly lives on it! My suffering will be over!” the crazed commander yelled as he turned to aim his phaser at the reaction chamber. “If I fire this inside the chamber it will all be over even quicker. It will finally be over…all the nothingness will be over. They won’t stop me! They won’t!”  
  
SungGyu stared at the phaser that was set on vaporize and struggled to think of a solution to the problem that did not end with his death and the destruction of the ship. “Sir, please don’t. You don’t have to do this.”  
  
Commander Ji-Hoon smiled as he glanced back at SungGyu, while keeping the phaser aimed at the reaction chamber. “You are lucky you will soon be dead…you will never know my suffering. Goodbye archaic—”  
  
Then to SungGyu’s great relief and surprise, before Commander Ji-Hoon could fire the phaser his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell to the deck. Unbeknownst to SungGyu, WooHyun had snuck up behind Commander Ji-Hoon while the other two men had had their confrontation. He had smoothly injected the insane commander with a powerful sedative without ever being detected.  
  
“WooHyun!” SungGyu exclaimed as he swooped down, grabbed the phaser, and ran back to the engineering control panel. “If had time I’d hug you.”  
  
“Rain check, then.”  
  
“If we live.”  
  
“If we live,” WooHyun repeated as he knelt down beside the commander, whose eyes were open and whose whole body was twitching. “He should be unconscious…I gave him enough to knock ten men out.”  
  
“All of this is beyond me,” SungGyu declared as he stared helplessly at the controls, unable to stop the warp core breach. “How did he manage to accomplish this? He didn’t know enough…he barely knew anything about engineering. I can’t make sense of any of it.”  
  
“You will think of something,” WooHyun replied distractedly as he pressed his hand against the commander’s chest to calm him. “Commander, calm down.”  
  
“Not me! Not Me! Not me!” Commander Ji-Hoon shrieked as WooHyun touched him. “Please stop, not me!” The commander cried one last time before his whole body began to seize uncontrollably.  
  
WooHyun pulled out another hypospray and injected the seizing man again. Commander Ji-Hoon immediately lost consciousness and stopped seizing.  
  
“I can’t stop it…I can’t…” SungGyu admitted, shaking his head.  
  
WooHyun looked at the ensign. “What are you saying?”  
  
“You have to take Commander Ji-Hoon and get off this ship. I can’t stop the breach,” SungGyu replied, not taking his eyes off the controls. “He used some code that is far beyond my engineering abilities. I can’t stop this. It won’t even allow me to eject the warp core.”  
  
WooHyun jumped to his feet, registering what the other man was telling him. “We all need to leave.”  
  
“I have to try to stop this.”  
  
“You just said you can’t!”  
  
“But I still have to try!”  
  
The computer immediately announced, “Warp Core breach in sixty seconds.”  
  
“Like the hell you do, we are leaving,” WooHyun declared as he headed toward SungGyu, ready to drag him to the transporters.  
  
“Or I could take a look,” Ensign Henry blurted out as he rushed to SungGyu’s side.  
  
“Warp Core breach in fifty seconds.”  
  
SungGyu’s mouth fell open as he backed away from the controls to let the engineering prodigy take over.  
  
“Warp Core breach in forty seconds.”  
  
WooHyun walked over to SungGyu, took his hand and squeezed it. They both watched as Henry’s hands flew over the control panel.  
  
“Warp Core breach in thirty seconds.”  
  
No one dared to breathe or say a word.  
  
“Warp Core breach in twenty seconds,” the computer announced as it continued to count down to the ship’s destruction.  
  
Ensign Henry’s mind raced as his hands struggled to keep pace with it.  
  
SungGyu kept his eyes locked on Henry, willing him to do the impossible. WooHyun closed his eyes, forced regrets from his mind and said a small goodbye to the short life he had lived.”  
  
“Warp Core Breach in ten seconds…9…8…7…6…5…4…Warp Core stabilized and ship out of danger.”


	3. I AM AN ENGINEER, NOT A FUCKING MIDWIFE!

Ensign Henry slumped against the power console as the computer stopped the countdown to the ship’s total destruction. “I think I need a hug.”  
  
Woohyun quickly hugged Sunggyu, who was standing beside him, and then rushed toward Ensign Henry and engulfed him in a hug, too.  
  
Sunggyu remained frozen in place, allowing himself a moment to come to terms with what had just happened.  
  
“I almost wet myself, no lie,” Woohyun informed the others as he tightly embraced Ensign Henry.  
  
“I think I did,” Henry gasped, hugging the doctor back.  
  
Sunggyu collected himself, walked over and patted Ensign Henry on the back. He awkwardly told the engineering prodigy, “You saved the ship. You saved us…you saved the ship.”  
  
“You did,” Woohyun agreed as he released Henry, bent over, placed his hands on his knees, and tried to calm his racing heart. “I still can’t believe it. I don’t know you that well…but I love you, man. I really love you.”  
  
Henry shook his head amused. “I still can’t believe it worked.”  
  
“It did work,” Sunggyu confirmed. “You saved us…you saved the ship.”  
  
“I didn’t do it alone.”  
  
Sunggyu stopped patting Henry and placed a hand on Woohyun’s back. “Well, Woohyun helped…by knocking Commander Ji-Hoon unconscious. I knew if I went for the phaser he was going to blow this ship to pieces…there wasn’t anything I could do. You two totally saved the ship.”  
  
Woohyun disagreed, “No, you saved the ship. If it hadn’t been for you…both Henry and I would have been safe on the planet with everyone else. If it hadn’t been for your bravery the ship would be gone.”  
  
“You give me too much credit.”  
  
“You do give him too much credit,” Henry said, agreeing with Sunggyu, while grinning. “It wasn’t bravery; it was fucking stupidity…only an idiot stays for a warp core breach.”  
  
Sunggyu chuckled and nodded his head. “Then I guess we three are all idiots.”  
  
“Most definitely,” Henry concurred.  
  
“Hey!” Woohyun protested. “At least we are brave idiots.”  
  
“So shouldn’t we inform the others the ship wasn’t destroyed?” Henry asked, looking around the empty engineering department.  
  
Sunggyu, who had a calculating look in his eyes, shook his head. “Not just yet…there are a few things I want to do first.”  
  
Henry and Woohyun shared a concerned glance with each other.  
  
“Hey, wouldn’t it be wrong not to take advantage of this situation?” Sunggyu asked after seeing their shared look. “There are a few things I am curious about, but I will need your assistance.”  
  
“You know I will help you do anything,” Woohyun assured Sunggyu.  
  
“Me too,” Henry agreed.  
  
Sunggyu rubbed his hands together, looking almost gleeful. “We better get busy then. We don’t have much time and we have to completely cover our tracks.”  
  
“Covering our tracks is made infinitely easier by the fact we are the only people on the ship…but we can’t maintain the ship for long,” Henry reminded the other ensign.  
  
“I know,” Sunggyu stated. “It won’t take long.”  
  
“Is there anything in particular you want us to do?” Woohyun asked.  
  
“Actually, there is.”  
  
  
  
******************************  
  
  
“I can’t take another step.”  
  
Yunho looked down at his mate who was sitting on the ground. “Jaejoong, please just bear with me a little longer.”  
  
“My legs are killing me.”  
  
Yunho, who was in perfect physical shape, knelt down beside his very pregnant mate and said encouragingly, “Just a little bit farther.”  
  
Jaejoong, who was squeezing the calves of his legs, whined, “I can’t help it. I am pregnant!”  
  
“I know.”  
  
“Then why did you insist I climb up this fucking volcano with you, then? You are the worst bondmate in the history of bondmates!”  
  
Yunho rolled his eyes at his lover, took a deep breath, and looked out at the amazing view. To the south and the west there were grasslands and forest and to the east and north there was an ocean with dark purple waters.  
  
“It’s too high,” Jaejoong whined.  
  
“We are not going to the top.”  
  
“And it’s hot”  
  
“It’s nice.”  
  
“Nice?” Jaejoong hissed as he wiped sweat from his neck. “I don’t even sweat and I am drenched with sweat!”  
  
“Just a little farther.”  
  
“I can’t do it.”  
  
“You are a Joong—a superior race; surely some extra poundage hasn’t incapacitated such a great being as yourself.”  
  
“I am going to decapitate you if you don’t shut up!”  
  
Yunho stood back up and folded his arms. “I just wanted you to see something…to share a moment with you…forgive me for including you.”  
  
Jaejoong folded his arms mocking Yunho. “No, I won’t.”  
  
“It’s just a little farther…”  
  
“I can’t,” Jaejoong whined. “I know I am a superior being…but look at me! I am not immune to my physical state.”  
  
Yunho extended his hand. “Then I will carry you.”  
  
Jaejoong looked up at his lover, surprised. “Really?”  
  
“Yes, I really want your opinion on something…and I don’t mind carrying you.”  
  
The Joong took the extended hand and slowly stood up. “You aren’t just carrying me.”  
  
“It is fine,” Yunho assured Jaejoong. “Do you want me to carry you princess style or piggyback?”  
  
Jaejoong tilted his head and pondered the question. “I shall always go with the royal selection.”  
  
Yunho laughed. “Of course, what was I thinking?”  
  
“I don’t think piggyback would work in my current condition,” Jaejoong explained. “It would be uncomfortable, but it would be easier for you.”  
  
“Jaejoong,” Yunho replied as he gently lifted the other man up his arms, “are you forgetting the bond?”  
  
“No,” Jaejoong confessed. “I remember the bond, and I know because of it I weigh practically nothing. I was going to allow you to indulge your noble, self-sacrificing hang-ups.”  
  
“They are not hang-ups,” Yunho told Jaejoong with a chuckle and started back up the volcano. “They are what makes  _me,_  me.”  
  
Jaejoong grinned up at his mate, his arms draped around Yunho’s neck. “It’s been a long time since you carried me.”  
  
“Has it been?”  
  
“It feels like it…I don’t think I have ever carried you.”  
  
“No.”  
  
“I could.”  
  
“Really…you  _can’t_ take another step but you could carry me.”  
  
“I didn’t say now!”  
  
Yunho chuckled and leaned forward to kiss Jaejoong on the forehead.  
  
Jaejoong beamed up at his bondmate and proclaimed, “I love you.”  
  
“You better.”  
  
“I do…” Jaejoong paused as a perplexed look appeared on his face.  
  
“What?”  
  
“I just feel…”  
  
“You feel what?” Yunho asked anxiously. “Did your water break…does your water even break?”  
  
“No, my water is fine…” Jaejoong answered, shaking his head. “I just felt a strong sense of déjà vu…still feel it.”  
  
Yunho took a few more steps before replying, “I have been feeling that too.”  
  
“When did it start?”  
  
“Not too long ago, I think it began when you started whining and bitching about not making it any farther.”  
  
“I started sensing it the minute we started climbing.”  
  
“What do you think it is?”  
  
“It’s like another life…another reality leaking through…”  
  
“Is that possible?”  
  
“It is.”  
  
Yunho shrugged and continued on his journey. “I wonder if I had to carry you around in that life, too.”  
  
“Perhaps…perhaps you were my precious pet that carried me everywhere.”  
  
Yunho growled, instantly recalling the memory. “So not funny.”  
  
“Or perhaps, we had huge tiger cats that carried me around.”  
  
“You need to stop.”  
  
“Although, in the tiger reality…I would have probably carried you.”  
  
“I am going to drop you,” Yunho warned.  
  
Jaejoong tilted his head back and let out a hearty laugh. “You wouldn’t dare.”  
  
“True,” Yunho agreed. “I’d never drop Changmin.”  
  
“Hey!”  
  
“But you are another story,” Yunho informed his mate as he carefully lowered him to the ground.  
  
“Wait, don’t stop,” Jaejoong yelped, finding himself standing again. “You are way too sensitive!”  
  
“No, I’m not,” Yunho responded as he pointed out at the scenery. “We have arrived.”  
  
Jaejoong peered out at the view and then turned back to his mate. “It looks just like it did five minutes ago.”  
  
“No, this is a better view.”  
  
“Okay…” Jaejoong replied, looking skeptically back at the landscape. “Why was it so important that I see this?”  
  
Yunho reached out, took Jaejoong by the hand and explained, “Somewhere on this planet is a Guardian of Time. It knows we are here, but it isn’t going to bring us to it…we are going to have to find it.”  
  
Jaejoong slowly nodded his head. “Yes, we knew this.”  
  
“You won’t be able to sense it till after Changmin is born.”  
  
“Correct.”  
  
“We can’t afford to wait that long. It took all of Ryeowook’s skills to save Junsu…next time it might not be enough.”  
  
“We don’t have a choice but to wait.”  
  
Yunho shook his head and squeezed Jaejoong’s hand. “I don’t believe that. The Guardian wouldn’t make the journey to it impossible…it wants to be found.”  
  
“But Yunho…I have no idea where it is.”  
  
“But maybe together…we can find it. I have powerful gut instincts…we are stranded here because I ignored those instincts for too long…because I let protocol and Star Fleet orders guide me. I should never have given Leeteuk control of my ship, but I can’t dwell on that any longer. I have to get my ship back.”  
  
“And you will.”  
  
“I will,” Yunho concurred. “I want to start working on getting it back, right now.”  
  
“How?”  
  
“We have it in us to find the Guardian…the three of us.”  
  
“Three of us?”  
  
“Changmin is with us…your telepathic powers are not gone, he is just monopolizing them...we just need to focus on finding the Guardian.”  
  
A dubious Jaejoong asked, “Did you eat something…something you probably shouldn’t have? One of those red berries, perhaps? Do I need to heal you?”  
  
“Jaejoong, I am not drugged…just try to feel the Guardian,” Yunho pleaded as he closed his eyes. “Just try to feel it. Please, for me.”  
  
“Okay,” Jaejoong reluctantly agreed. He closed his eyes and held on to Yunho’s hand tightly. He pushed all the other thoughts out of his head. He cleared his mind and had just begun to meditate when his eyes flew open. “It’s on an island surrounded by the sea.”  
  
Yunho smiled wide and reached out his hand and pointed toward the north. “That way.”  
  
“Yes,” an amazed Jaejoong responded. “How did you know?”  
  
“I didn’t, I just…I just felt it.”  
  
“Why, aren’t you just full of surprises,” Jaejoong stated as he looked at his mate, full of admiration.  
  
Yunho gazed back at his lover and nodded his head. “I have to be…not just anybody gets to be bonded with you.”  
  
“Very true; so what are you going to do now?”  
  
The former captain rubbed his hands together with enthusiasm. “We have to build a ship. There are a lot of islands off in that direction and I am sure the Guardian is on one of them.”  
  
“Build a boat?”  
  
“We can’t swim.”  
  
Jaejoong frowned. “I am pregnant, I can’t do any manual labor.”  
  
“If you weren’t pregnant you wouldn’t do manual labor.”  
  
“Not true.”  
  
Yunho gave Jaejoong an incredulous look. “Really, you….the  _Prince of Joong_  would build a boat?”  
  
The Joong grinned as he grabbed Yunho by his uniform and pulled him closer. “If we were apart, I would build a boat or swim across an ocean to be with you.”  
  
“So sappy,” Yunho teased as he ran a hand through Jaejoong’s blond strands of hair.  
  
“You better enjoy it while it lasts.”  
  
“Oh, I will.”  
  
“Kiss me,” Jaejoong ordered with a twinkle in his eyes.  
  
“Yes, your royal highness,” Yunho replied and happily obeyed.  
  
  
*********************  
  
  
Woohyun was sitting alone in the mess hall when Eunhyuk walked up to him. “Want some company for lunch?”  
  
“Sure,” Woohyun said, accepting the offer. “I always like company.”  
  
Eunhyuk sat down across from the other man at the table. “So I heard Sunggyu is a lieutenant now.”  
  
“Yep.”  
  
Eunhyuk just shook his head in amazement. “That is some kind of promotion…never graduated the academy and now he is a lieutenant.”  
  
Sungmin, who had appeared unexpectedly, sat down beside Eunhyuk and questioned, “Do you have a problem with him being made a lieutenant?”  
  
“No,” Eunhyuk denied. “I just…it’s just kind of a big deal.”  
  
Sungmin situated his plate on the table and explained, “He’s actually just an acting lieutenant. The captain needed someone trustworthy and dependable running engineering and an ensign can not be the head of a department. Ensign Henry is by far the superior engineer, but he lacks the necessary leadership abilities.”  
  
“I know this,” Eunhyuk insisted. “Believe it or not, I am not jealous. I know he is extremely capable…and you, Yesung, and Donghae don’t know anything about engineering.”  
  
Sungmin took a drink of his milk and set it back down. “Very true, I guess I am just surprised you aren’t jealous.”  
  
“Now, that…that Junsu is dead I am actually taking his words of wisdom to heart.”  
  
The security chief reached out and patted Eunhyuk’s hand. “I know exactly what you mean. Junsu chewed me out good for not appreciating you enough before he died. Thanks to him I see things much clearer now.”  
  
Eunhyuk paled. “What…what did he say?”  
  
“He just pointed out what a lousy friend I had been to you. You are always worrying about me and he didn’t think I showed you the same consideration. He was very insistent about it.”  
  
Well…that’s nice, I suppose,” Eunhyuk replied nervously as he focused his attention on Woohyun and asked, “So how is Commander Ji-Hoon doing?”  
  
“He’s been back in stasis for the last week, but he has no brain function,” Woohyun answered. “Dr. Kim says his mind is completely gone.”  
  
“That is too bad,” Sungmin commented. “Really sad.”  
  
Eunhyuk frowned. “I hope it doesn’t eventually happen to Dr. Kim and the captain.”  
  
Sungmin instantly blustered, “Why would you say that? The captain is absolutely fine. There is nothing wrong with him. He is in—Woohyun, what is wrong?”  
  
Eunhyuk turned around following Woohyun’s darkened gaze and noticed that Sunggyu and SooYoung had just entered the mess hall. “Ouch.”  
  
Sungmin frowned and sympathetically told the doctor, “That has to be hard on you.”  
  
Woohyun forced his eyes away from Sunggyu and stared down at his food. “It’s really hard…harder than I ever would have imagined.”  
  
“You just…you just need to let him go,” Eunhyuk offered weakly.  
  
Sungmin, who had failed repeatedly to get Siwon to forgive him or even hear him out, bristled immediately and scolded his friend, “That is a lot easier said than done.”  
  
“I never thought I could love anyone as much as I love him—I’d die for him,” Woohyun admitted, still avoiding their glances.  
  
“Men are so stupid sometimes. Half the time I am ashamed to be one,” Sungmin stated. “She didn’t risk her life to save him when the ship was about to blow up, did she? Did she even give him a thought when she beamed down to the planet? No, it was you who went to engineering to help him.”  
  
“But…if he prefers her…would it be fair to pretend otherwise just because he felt like he owed you?” Eunhyuk questioned, playing the devil’s advocate.  
  
Both Woohyun and Sungmin glared at Eunhyuk.  
  
“I am just saying…you can’t help who you like…or love,” Eunhyuk said in his defense as he cast a glance at the couple. “They look really intense…maybe you should take Sungmin up on his offer to move you to different quarters.”  
  
Sungmin winced and confessed, “That really isn’t necessary anymore…is it?”  
  
Woohyun shook his head.  
  
Eunhyuk took turns looking at the two men. “Why? Did you already move to other quarters?”  
  
“Sunggyu…has been staying with her,” Woohyun explained. “They are now living together.”  
  
Eunhyuk opened his mouth and then promptly shut it.  
  
  
********************************  
  
  
“What are you looking at so intently?”  
  
Junsu looked up to find Yoochun looking down at him. Junsu was outside the cave, leaning against it. “I saw the giant birds again.”  
  
Yoochun groaned as he sat down by Junsu. “Did Ryeowook give you some good drugs?”  
  
Junsu, who was feeling much better, grinned. “No, there aren’t any good drugs here…well, there are the red berries.”  
  
Yoochun shook his head. “No, with them comes the shits, and my ass is just starting to feel better. You better just remind me not to get hurt.”  
  
“Don’t get hurt.”  
  
“So you saw your imaginary birds again.”  
  
“They are not imaginary. I really did see them. There was a flock above the trees for just a few seconds.”  
  
“How can you be sure?”  
  
“I have prefect vision.”  
  
“It’s weird that nobody else has seen them.”  
  
“I know what I saw,” Junsu maintained, meeting Yoochun’s gaze.  
  
Yoochun studied Junsu closely. “You look a lot healthier.”  
  
“I feel a lot better.”  
  
“Good.”  
  
“I thought you were going with Kyuhyun and Ryeowook to search for suitable lumber.”  
  
Yoochun stretched his arms out above his head and yawned. “They got up too early for me. Plus, who do you think is going to be the mastermind when it comes to actually building that boat? It will be me, so for now I am going to be lazy.”  
  
Junsu looked away from Yoochun and back toward the forest. “Are you sure that is the only reason?”  
  
Yoochun, whose gaze had never left Junsu, questioned, “Are you suggesting I was actually being nice and giving them alone time?”  
  
Junsu nodded his head and immediately winced.  
  
“Hey, you have hole in your throat,” Yoochun said scolding the other man. “You can talk now, so talk. No nodding or shaking your head.”  
  
“I just forgot,” Junsu explained as he reached up and placed his hand over the bandage covering his “I don’t even want to know what Ryeowook stitched me up with.”  
  
“No, you don’t…you really don’t.”  
  
Junsu closed his eyes and confessed, “The business of surviving isn’t for the faint hearted, is it?”  
  
“No,” Yoochun agreed. “Surviving is hard. You can’t afford to be too faint or kind hearted.”  
  
“But…but you were nice today.”  
  
“Giving the Chos time to fuck is a favor to all of us, believe me. Ryeowook is a lot less bossy after he rides Kyuhyun’s cock.”  
  
Junsu fidgeted slightly at Yoochun’s bluntness, but he didn’t deny it. “They deserve to be happy.”  
  
Yoochun looked away from Junsu and toward the forest. “Perhaps they do…they have been miserable for a long time.”  
  
“Way too long.”  
  
“Speaking of unhappy…Jaejoong is scary as hell today, and that is saying a lot considering how fucking scary he usually is.”  
  
“He is definitely in a mood,” Junsu agreed.  
  
“Yunho can’t even please him. Hell, I almost went with the Chos just to spare myself the agony of having to be in the same vicinity as the moody mother to be from hell.”  
  
“He has been…” Junsu paused not wanting to talk ill about the Joong. “He has been very  _vocal_  today…maybe he’s about to go into labor.”  
  
Yoochun brightened. “I hope so, and then we can get off this wretched planet. I can only imagine what that dumbass Ji-Hoon has done to my engines.”  
  
  
************  
  
“The crew grows uneasy at our extended stay here,” Heechul stated as he approached Leeteuk, who stood in ten forward looking down on the planet Zilax from orbit. “They do not understand why we continue to orbit this planet.”  
  
“I am respecting the mourning process.”  
  
“You are doing no such thing.”  
  
“They don’t know that.”  
  
Heechul looked critically at Leeteuk and pronounced, “This search is useless. The  _Key Ad Vitam_  will not reveal itself to us.”  
  
Leeteuk kept his gaze locked on the planet. “I have not come this far to give up now.”  
  
“You will have to give up when Jaejoong returns to this ship.”  
  
“He hasn’t returned yet.”  
  
“He will return in time, the Guardian will not refuse him forever, especially not with a babe in his arms.”  
  
Leeteuk looked at Heechul and corrected him, “Guardians are unpredictable at best. You do not know how it will react, no one does.”  
  
“Have the Guardians not proved helpful to this crew in the past?”  
  
“Yes, to an extent, but they can be rather stingy when it comes to their favorites. We have time.”  
  
“Are you so certain? A Joong…a royal Joong…and especially _that_ Joong, will have no difficulty subduing us. I would not be surprised if he is not able to push our consciousnesses out of these bodies.”  
  
“He is not that highly trained.”  
  
“How do you know? Joongs are instinctively secretive and especially him. Have you not read the files? He has been lying… _withholding truths_  since he arrived on this ship.”  
  
Leeteuk pondered over Heechul’s words for only a short moment. “I will not give up the search for it.”  
  
“We have the _ferro interficere_ ; it is enough.”  
  
“No, it is not.”  
  
“It is for me.”  
  
“We are not even sure it will work. We will only get three tries.”  
  
“Three is all we need. If it works…it will be enough for me.”  
  
“Are you becoming soft?” Leeteuk questioned, suspiciously. “How can you say it is enough? It isn’t enough—it’s not nearly enough.”  
  
Heechul stiffened at Leeteuk’s accusing words, and said defensively, “They will never allow you your revenge.”  
  
Leeteuk sneered and stated in a voice full of loathing, “They do not care…they do not bother themselves with this realm.”  
  
“Then why seek revenge?”  
  
“Why? You know why! How can you ask such a question?”  
  
Heechul looked back down at the planet, while maintaining calm in other man’s presence. “If they will not be aware of our revenge…what sense of resolution is there to seek?”  
  
“Revenge is its own resolution…a goal much desired.”  
  
“I still do not believe they will allow it.”  
  
“In their omnipotence they have reached a level of ambivalence that will prove beneficial to us.”  
  
“Are you so certain of their ambivalence?”  
  
“Yes, I am certain.”  
  
“Then why can’t you find it?”  
  
“Because…when they did still care…they made sure it was protected against the likes of us…but against their precious Earthlings…I think not.”  
  
“Then why have you not had the members of this crew search for it?”  
  
“Because unlike the Guardians, who filter and protect time from ignorance and the likes of us…it has no such filter.”  
  
“Isn’t that why you want it?”  
  
“Yes, but if an Earthling accidentally activated it and it transported them before we could claim it…it would be most unfortunate.”  
  
  
  
*************************  
  
  
  
“Sir!”  
  
“Don’t Sir me! I was just a lowly ensign like you two losers,” a very drunk Kangin bitterly shouted at the two young ensigns trailing after him. “I am resigning from the fleet and there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it!”  
  
“Si—Kangin, you are a still a member of Star Fleet,” Ensign Dongwoo insisted as he followed the older man through the crowded street. “Please don’t leave. You are great! We all look up to you.”  
  
“I don’t give a shit. I told you I quit,” Kangin yelled as he stopped long enough to sling the heavy bag he was carrying to his other shoulder. “I know you look up to me, kid…but I can’t stay on this sham of a ship. It is a disgrace to Star Fleet and the Federation.”  
  
Ensign Myungsoo, who stood beside the panicked Dongwoo, suggested, “Will you allow us to take you to Lieutenant Sunggyu first…before you make any rash decisions?”  
  
Kangin swung around to face the two younger men, and seethed, “No, I have nothing to say to that…that slimy dog! Yunho had so much faith in him…and I should have known Yunho was wrong when he let that pompous ass take credit for a dead man’s deed…my friend’s deed…my dead friend’s deed! Ensign Sunggyu…excuse me—Lieutenant Sunggyu knows how to handle his superiors…knows how to manipulate them! I will give him credit for that…hell, if we were still in Federation space he’d be an admiral by now.”  
  
“What about Lieutenant SooYoung?” Dongwoo questioned quickly. “Will you talk to her?”  
  
“No!” Kangin shouted. “I don’t want to talk to anyone! I want to leave! I am going to be making it on my own from now on. Although, if I ever see that lily-white coward posing as a star ship captain again, I’d love to tell him a few things…the first being to kiss my ass!”  
  
“Please, don’t leave,” Dongwoo pleaded.  
  
“I won’t be part of a crew where the captain turns tail and runs at the first sign of trouble! That isn’t what I signed up for!”  
  
Myungsoo saw an opening and quickly took advantage of it. “But Lieutenant Sunggyu did not turn tail and run did he? He stayed and saved the ship…so just maybe you should hear what he has to say.”  
  
“Ugh…” Kangin paused as his intoxicated mind failed to find a proper response. Unable to find an excuse that sounded rational in his own mind, he went with an irrational one. “Yeah…well, he couldn’t very well get a promoted to lieutenant if we didn’t have a ship…it might have been his plan all along. I can’t be a—”  
  
“Ensign Kangin!”  
  
The two younger ensigns and the very drunk Kangin all turned around to find a very irritated looking Lieutenant Sunggyu glaring at them.  
  
Kangin pointed his finger at the young lieutenant and accused, “I don’t give a fuck if you are the Chief Admiral of Star Fleet, you can’t command—”  
  
Sunggyu quickly interrupted the older man and questioned, “Were Commander Yoochun and Captain Yunho not your two oldest and dearest friends?”  
  
“Umm…yeah, but you are no—”  
  
“Did those two great men not show great faith in me?”  
  
“Yeah, but they were wrong. I will give you credit, because it’s the rare man that could hoodwink both of them.”  
  
“So you believe them both to be fools?”  
  
“No…that isn’t…I didn’t say that.”  
  
“Do you have such a low opinion of their judgment that you can not spare me five minutes of your time?”  
  
Before Kangin could answer Sunggyu turned around, motioned them all to follow, and took off in the direction of one of the brothels.  
  
For a moment Kangin did not move or say a word, but after only a few seconds he grudgingly followed after the irritated lieutenant; even inebriated…his loyalty to his lost friends demanded that he follow.  
  
  
*******************************************  
  
  
“It’s a very good morning, Mr. Cho.”  
  
“Indeed it is, Dr. Cho.”  
  
The happily married couple was resting on a bed of leaves inside a hollowed out log; both were naked.  
  
Ryeowook leisurely stretched out his arms. “Wonderful morning.”  
  
Kyuhyun grinned as he reached out and took one of Ryeowook’s extended hands, brought it to his mouth and gently kissed it. “And you haven’t delivered any babies so I am confidant I am the only reason behind your good mood.”  
  
Ryeowook shifted to his side and grinned back at his husband. “Confidant, are you?”  
  
Kyuhyun winked. “I shall start boasting any minute.”  
  
“Boast away.”  
  
“I shall.”  
  
“I don’t mind…I am feeling pretty boastful myself,” Ryeowook informed his husband, winking back at him.  
  
Kyuhyun inhaled a deep breath and blurted out, “I love you so much.”  
  
Ryeowook propped himself up with one arm, leaned in and whispered in Kyuhyun’s ear, “I never get tired of hearing you say that,  _never_.”  
  
“It’s the truth.”  
  
“I know, and I love you just as much…you’re my love, my kiss—”  
  
“My heart,” Kyuhyun interrupted to finish as he pulled Ryeowook into a warm embrace. They kissed slowly and tenderly.  
  
Ryeowook pulled away from the kiss, groaned, and buried his face in Kyuhyun’s chest. “It’s getting warm.”  
  
Kyuhyun ran his hands gently down Ryeowook’s backside. “Too warm…and we failed to find suitable timber.”  
  
“I think they will forgive us,” Ryeowook stated as he reluctantly sat up. “Although, they probably won’t—”  
  
“What is…” Kyuhyun paused, noticing his husband tense. The commander turned and followed Ryeowook’s gaze; he was startled to see a creature that both resembled a monkey and large bird of prey staring back at them as it held the phaser that Kyuhyun had set down earlier beside his clothes.  
  
Before Kyuhyun could utter a word or jump for the phaser the creature took flight while still clutching it  
  
An amazed Ryeowook watched the creature fly away as he proclaimed, “It’s like a flying monkey straight out of  _The Wizard of Oz_.”  
  
Kyuhyun got up quickly and started putting his uniform back on. “That was our only defense…our only weapon…and what is  _The Wizard of Oz_?”  
  
“A very old book,” Ryeowook answered as he started to get dressed. “Yunho is going to kill us…if Yoochun doesn’t kill us first.”  
  
“We will deserve it,” Kyuhyun replied, letting his own disappointment show. “I don’t know what I was thinking…well, actually I do know what I was thinking…but I shouldn’t have—I behaved like some green cadet and not a commander on a star ship. My mother would have me demoted back down to ensign for this.”  
  
“We both acted recklessly,” Ryeowook conceded. “But we can regret this all later…the dinosaur creatures will be out shortly…if they aren’t already out and we have no defense against them.”  
  
Kyuhyun grabbed Ryeowook’s hand and took off in the direction of the cave. “We could top this day off by getting eaten by a dinosaur, but still…”  
  
“Still what?”  
  
“It would still be a wonderful day.”  
  
Ryeowook chuckled at his husband, but before he could agree his combadge went off. The doctor reached up to tap it, not slowing down. “Yes.”  
  
A very frantic Junsu shouted over the link, “Dr. Cho! Dr. Cho, you have to get back here, now!”  
  
“What’s wrong?”  
  
“Jaejoong is in labor!”  
  
Ryeowook smiled, but quickened his pace. “That’s great news!”  
  
“No! It isn’t,” Junsu immediately responded. “He’s really mean. The captain is bleeding!”  
  
“Bleeding?” A puzzled Ryeowook repeated. “Why would Yunho be bleeding?”  
  
“Jaejoong hit him. Can you hear them?”  
  
Ryeowook and Kyuhyun both listened carefully and sure enough they could hear Jaejoong, Yunho and Yoochun in the background.  
  
“Where are you?” Ryeowook asked the ensign.  
  
“I am hiding outside of the cave…no way am I going in there.”  
  
Kyuhyun asked, “Why on earth is Yoochun in there?”  
  
“The captain demanded it…said if they were really best friends,” Junsu answered. “I think he is scared of Jaejoong.”  
  
Ryeowook and Kyuhyun shared a perplexed look before the loud voice of Commander Yoochun could be heard screaming, “I AM AN ENGINEER, NOT A FUCKING MIDWIFE!”


	4. Changmin!

“Doctor Cho!” Junsu shouted as he rushed toward the married couple as they approached the cave.  
  
Ryeowook, who had ran the entire way back with Kyuhyun, continued to hurry toward the cave, not stopping to greet Junsu but he did manage to scold the ensign as he passed by him. “Junsu, sit down! You are supposed to being taking it easy!”  
  
“I know…but…but I think Jaejoong might kill them both,” Junsu explained as he followed Ryeowook to the cave’s opening, while waving his arms in the air. “I think he has super strength we didn’t know about.”  
  
“He won’t kill…” Ryeowook paused before entering the cave as he heard screaming coming from inside the cave…very loud, vicious screaming. Ryeowook quickly grasped that the Prince of Joong was not happy to be experiencing contractions. “You two stay here…I’ll handle this.”  
  
Kyuhyun and Junsu didn’t argue with the doctor as they watched him boldly enter the cave.  
  
“My life has been one cursed event after the next…since I met you!” Jaejoong screeched at a hapless looking Yunho.  
  
Jaejoong was lying on the floor of the cave, leaning back against his elbows, and glaring up at his mate.  
  
Yunho, who had blood dripping down his face, struggled to remain civil with the seething Joong. “Might I remind you that you were tied up and getting beaten when first we met?”  
  
“No, you may not  _remind me_!” Jaejoong bellowed back at Yunho. “I am a prince of Joong! A royal Joong of Joong! Do you even know what that means? The importance…the great honor it is to be an actual Joong of Joong? Of course you don’t! You don’t know anything! And because of you I am on the floor of a cave…about to give birth! I don’t even have a pillow for my head and the only blanket I have…is a piece of skinned animal! My son, who is also of royal blood…even though his father is of an inferior species, is about to be delivered…delivered on fur! Fur from a dead animal! Look at how far I have fallen! You did this to me!”  
  
Ryeowook took in the scene and quickly let his presence be known. “Jaejoong, you are always the prince of Joong…your royalty is a predetermined fact. It is not dependent on your location. Castles, hospitals, star ships, or caves have no affect on your royal pedigree.”  
  
Jaejoong stopped glowering at Yunho to turn his focus on the newly arrived doctor.  
  
Before Jaejoong could say a word, Ryeowook quickly moved to start assessing the Joong’s condition. “I shall admit that a cave is not a desired location to give birth in, but if anybody can do so with grace and dignity it is you.”  
  
The snarl slipped off Jaejoong’s face as listened to the other man’s flattering words.  
  
“You are the royal prince of Joong and every place you visit becomes better…just from you being there. This cave is no mere cave now. From now on it will be the sacred cave where Jaejoong the Royal Prince of Joong gave birth to the first hybrid child in history.”  
  
The snarl remained off Jaejoong’s face as he pondered the truth of the doctor’s words, and found himself in full agreement.  
  
“ _First off_ , we have to get these pants off,” Ryeowook calmly told the Joong as he began to remove Jaejoong’s pants. “It’s quite difficult to have a baby with pants on.”  
  
Yoochun, who had been hiding behind Yunho unseen, stuck his head out from around Yunho for a quick peek. “Oh, that makes sense. I didn’t even think of it…but honestly, Jaejoong is the one person…man or woman... _in the universe_ …the entire universe, that I have never ever had the slightest inclination to get his pants off.”  
  
“ _Second_ ,” Ryeowook blurted out quickly, before Jaejoong could respond to the engineer. “Yoochun, leave.”  
  
Yoochun gave Yunho a hug from behind and declared, “Be safe, my brother.”  
  
Yunho let out a small groan as Yoochun let go of him and ran for it.  
  
“ _Third,_ ” Ryeowook stated as he assessed Jaejoong. “Yunho, I need you to get behind Jaejoong so he can lean against you. You can be his pillow.”  
  
“Absolutely, not!” Jaejoong protested, while grimacing as another contraction rocked his body. “His very existence is pissing me off right now.”  
  
“Jaejoong,” Ryeowook scolded.  
  
“No, he is so  _fucking_  happy… _fucking_  ecstatic! I just want to rip his face off!”  
  
Ryeowook glanced up at Yunho, whose nose had obviously been broken in several places and winced.  
  
“Don’t feel sorry for him!” Jaejoong snapped. “Don’t you dare! I am suffering horribly and he is…he is just thrilled! The moment Changmin is born he will probably grab him and run off with him! He will never give me another thought!”  
  
“You know that isn’t true,” Ryeowook told the Joong softly.  
  
“The hell it isn’t!”  
  
“Jaejoong, surely you are not picking this moment to be insecure,” Yunho accused as he tempered his emotions and ignored his own pain.  
  
Jaejoong glared at his mate. “Don’t you use that captain’s voice on me…you let some imposter take over your ship. What kind of shitty captain are you?”  
  
Ryeowook opened his mouth to admonish the Joong, but Yunho held up his hand, halting the doctor as he moved closer to the Joong.  
  
“I did let my ship get taken over,” Yunho admitted as he bravely approached the Joong. “I followed the rules when I should never have relinquished control of the Expectations. I let everyone down…because I didn’t follow my instincts. I failed.”  
  
Jaejoong said nothing as he eyed his mate suspiciously.  
  
“If I had followed my instincts you would be in sickbay right now.”  
  
“Yes, I would be…or maybe I would be in my big, comfortable bed…that is  _not_ covered with the fur of a dead animal!”  
  
Yunho nodded his head as he carefully sat down behind the Joong, but remained a safe distance away, “Very true, but I would still be excited and you would still be scared.”  
  
Jaejoong jerked his head to the side to glare back at Yunho. “I am not scared…I am hurting! In pain! Horrible pain!”  
  
“You have always been insecure when it comes to Changmin, which is only natural. When first we met you only knew he meant the world to me. You did not know the reasons why…since you honored my wishes and did not read my mind. Only upon first meeting him did you realize he was actually our child…but due to reasons you could not understand you found that you lacked the important birth-parent bond with him that Joongs hold in such high reverence…while my bond with him was perfectly intact. I can only imagine how this made you feel,” Yunho said smoothly as he inched closer the Joong.  
  
Jaejoong turned his head back to eye Ryeowook, but reluctantly admitted, “This is all true…and it made me feel terrible…but not as terrible as I am feeling right now. Do not come closer to me!”  
  
Ryeowook watched as another contraction rocked Jaejoong’s body, causing the Joong to grimace in pain. “Jaejoong, you need to relax.”  
  
“You need to shut the fuck up! How am I supposed to relax with this searing pain ripping through me?” Jaejoong bellowed as he leaned forward, squeezing his eyes shut.  
  
“Haven’t you told me repeatedly that the bond rewards proximity?” Yunho asked softly, still inching closer. “Would it not benefit you if I did as the doctor asked? When your liver was badly damaged didn’t you tell me my touch diluted your pain?”  
  
Jaejoong’s eyes flew open. “Yunho, I demand you hold me, now!”  
  
Yunho sighed in relief and happily complied.  
  
Ryeowook watched as Jaejoong’s whole body relaxed as Yunho situated himself behind him and slowly started to massage the Joong’s tense shoulders.  
  
Jaejoong leaned against Yunho and declared, “I am an idiot…I am an idiot…I should have thought of this…I’m an idiot. Pain makes me an idiot; a  _stupid_  idiot.”  
  
“No, you are not,” Yunho soothingly told him. “You were scared and hurting.”  
  
“True,” Jaejoong conceded as the power of the bond washed his pain away. “Your enthusiasm was grating.”  
  
“Next time, I promise to be solemn.”  
  
“That will not be necessary,” Jaejoong told his lover with a grin. “Just be near…and duck next time.”  
  
Yunho laughed and draped his arms around Jaejoong. “I can’t believe you sucker punched me.”  
  
“Hey, I warned you ahead of time to wipe that stupid smile off your face…so therefore it was not a sucker punch…if I understand correctly what a sucker punch is.”  
  
“My much abused ego is going to insist on calling it a sucker punch,” Yunho explained. “Please allow me this?”  
  
“I will think about it,” Jaejoong conceded as he noticed a surprised look on Ryeowook’s face and questioned the doctor, “Ryeowook, the look upon your face…is unsettling, considering where you have recently had your hands. I must admit, even though I am in labor I am not comfortable with this new level of intimacy we are sharing, and I will most likely wipe it from your memory once my telepathic abilities have returned.”  
  
“I am a doctor,” Ryeowook, who was crouched between Jaejoong’s legs, reminded the Joong in a deadpan voice.  
  
“I do not require a doctor…although, that fact did elude me for awhile…when the pain made me…made me confused and slightly irritable.”  
  
“ _Slightly irritable_ —Jaejoong, you need a doctor,” Yunho informed his mate. “You are about to have a baby.”  
  
“He doesn’t need a doctor,” Ryeowook told Yunho as he quickly glanced at the soon-to-be parents and then back down. “He just needed you. Once you touched him he dilated to ten…then twenty…and then thirty. The baby is just going to…” Ryeowook paused as huge grin appeared on his face, “…slide on out. Human women would kill for this ability.”  
  
“Just slide out?” A surprised Yunho asked to confirm.  
  
“Yes, it’s amazing…” Ryeowook paused as the telepathic song of the Joong filled the minds of all as the infant emerged into the world with complete ease.  
  


_Every day and night with you  
I take your hand  
Every day every night everywhere  
Now we feel connected and verified  
Now, let the story begin_

  
  
A beaming Ryeowook gazed down at the baby, who would someday become his dear friend; a friend that would stand beside him at the academy, making an unbearable time bearable. With loving and gentle hands he reached down for the babe that would become a man untainted by humanity’s darker and crueler emotions.  
  
The infant cried out as soon as Ryeowook lifted him up, but stopped immediately as the doctor placed him in Jaejoong’s awaiting arms.  
  
The doctor’s heart overflowed with happiness as he gazed at the new parents and the son they had so desperately missed. Then he quietly got to his feet and exited the cave, leaving the new parents alone with their newborn son.  
  
The infant looked up at his birth-parent with wide, inquisitive blue eyes.  
  
Yunho, who hadn’t moved away from Jaejoong, peered over his mate’s shoulders as tears of joy glided down his cheeks. “He’s…so perfect.”  
  
Jaejoong, who was now experiencing his own emotions, plus Yunho’s and his newborn son’s, sniffled and explained, “Yes...a little perfect Joong.”  
  
“Half Joong,” Yunho corrected, brimming over with happiness. “He looks so smart already.”  
  
“Of course,” Jaejoong confirmed proudly.  
  
“He definitely knows you,” Yunho told his mate as he gazed down at their son, whose eyes were locked on his birth-parent. “He can’t take his eyes off of you.”  
  
“Of course,” Jaejoong repeated. “He will be partial to me for awhile, but soon you will be able to hold him with ease.”  
  
“What would happen if I tried to hold him now?”  
  
“He would cry like he did when Ryeowook held him,” Jaejoong answered never taking his eyes off his son as he rejoiced in their shared bond. “Right now, everything is so new to him and although he is not telepathic he does have limited empathic abilities. My emotions are comforting and familiar to him, but the touch of others—even yours will distress him at this stage. His empathic abilities are trigged by touch.”  
  
“I can wait to hold him,” Yunho assured Jaejoong. “Seeing you with him is enough…honestly, I am so happy I think I might burst.”  
  
“I know, I can feel the overwhelming joy.”  
  
“Your telepathic and empathic powers have returned?”  
  
“My empathic powers are back, but my telepathic ones are patchy at best…and I am beginning to be pulled under.”  
  
“Pulled under?”  
  
“I have started to shift back into my prior form,” Jaejoong answered drowsily. “Just let me sleep and keep Changmin next to me until I awaken.”  
  
Yunho smiled and vowed, “I will hold you until you awaken and I am warning you…I just might never let go of you.”  
  
“I love you…both of you…forever, forever and always” Jaejoong whispered before slipping off to sleep.  
  
  
**********************  
  
  
“You seem to spend a considerable amount of time on the planet drinking. The late Dr. Cho didn’t happen to recruit an alcoholic, did he?”  
  
Woohyun, who had been busy stocking supplies in sickbay, jumped and spun around to find Dr. Kim’s penetrating gaze focused solely on him. “Ummm…no.”  
  
“No, you don’t have an alcohol addiction or Dr. Cho did not recruit you?”  
  
“I am not an alcoholic,” Woohyun blurted out. “I have been drinking more than usual…but it is not the norm…not my norm.”  
  
Heechul’s gaze did not relent. “Why have you been drinking more than your norm?”  
  
“Umm…the same reason everyone has been…we have been mourning. Everybody is drinking more…or most people are, but not you. Not you, of course…not to say that I don’t think you are mourning…of course you are mourning.”  
  
“Stop rambling, Dr. Nam,” Heechul snapped. “And tell me who exactly you have been mourning.”  
  
“Of all them,” Woohyun immediately replied, but quickly added, “I, of course, was closer to Dr. Cho and Junsu than the others.”  
  
“Yes, one would assume you would be closer to Dr. Cho…and you and Junsu did share an adventure, didn’t you?”  
  
“They were my friends…”  
  
Heechul’s eyes narrowed. “Do you believe for one instance you have the mental capabilities to fool me?”  
  
“I am also depressed over…my relationship…my lack of a relationship with Ensi—Lieutenant Sunggyu,” Woohyun spluttered out quickly. “He was the reason I joined the ship…not because Dr. Cho recruited me. I wanted to be with him…and he doesn’t feel the same way.”  
  
Heechul tilted his head to the side. “This I believe…to an extent.”  
  
Woohyun resisted the urge to back away from the perceptive doctor. “Why are questioning me like this? What is it…that you think I have done?”  
  
“You have been acting depressed when you aren’t. I can sniff a diagnosis from light years away, and I know you are not depressed,” Heechul informed the young doctor. “So why would you pretend to be depressed?”  
  
“To drink more…” Woohyun replied quickly, trying not to appear as if he was grasping at straws. “It isn’t a bad…drinking habit. I mean, you …you know that from the state of my liver. If I had a bad drinking habit…it would have been detected and treated on my arrival on this ship.”  
  
The older doctor walked closer to Woohyun, but did not touch him. He just grinned and said admirably, “You are a clever one aren’t you?”  
  
“I try…”  
  
“Not the usual riffraff from this sector—”  
  
“Channnggggmminnnnn,” the loud piercing scream of Sulli interrupted Dr. Kim, much to Dr. Nam’s relief.  
  
Dr. Kim didn’t give Woohyun a parting glance as he took off toward the girl’s room. The scream was followed by the sound of alarms going off in sickbay alerting them Sulli was being released from her stasis chamber.  
  
Woohyun quickly followed after Dr. Kim.  
  
They both entered Sulli’s room to find her sitting up in bed, shivering, and looking terrified.  
  
Heechul slowly approached the bed and in a soothing tone, the opposite of the one he had used on Woohyun, he told the distraught girl, “Sulli, everything is okay…you were sleeping.”  
  
“Don’t touch me!” Sulli screamed as she pulled her arms and legs tightly into her body. “Don’t touch me!”  
  
“Sulli, do you recognize me?” Heechul asked as he stopped his approach to the bed.  
  
Sulli frantically shook her head, while rambling. “You’re a man…a man…man…bad man…man…bad…man…hurt…hurt.”  
  
“Princess Sulli,” Heechul said softly in his calmest voice. “I would never hurt you.”  
  
“Man…bad…don’t touch me!” she cried hysterically as she reached up to pull at her own hair. “Leave me alone! Don’t touch!”  
  
Woohyun asked, “Should we risk sedating her?”  
  
“No, not at this point,” Heechul responded, studying the hysterical girl. “Call for Lieutenant Sooyoung. Her psyche is severely damaged…as it should have been from the start. Maybe the lieutenant will be able to calm her.”  
  
  
****************  
  
  
Ryeowook emerged from the cave with a grin that spread across his whole face. “It’s a boy!”  
  
Junsu, who couldn’t stay still, jumped up. “Changmin!”  
  
Yoochun, who was trying his best to act nonchalant regarding the birth of his favorite scientist, stated, “I guessed as much when the sappy ballad started playing in my head.”  
  
Kyuhyun walked up to Ryeowook, took his husband’s hand and clasped it. “Didn’t we know it was going to be boy?”  
  
“I am never sure of anything when it comes to Jaejoong,” Ryeowook admitted, still grinning. “I examined Jaejoong countless times while he was pregnant and every time there was a placenta and an umbilical cord, but when the baby was born there was neither. He just slipped out.”  
  
Yoochun leaned against the cave and praised Ryeowook, “Doc, I got to give you props…you tamed that raging beast.”  
  
“No, Yunho tamed him,” Ryeowook said correcting Yoochun. “One he got close enough to touch Jaejoong everything went smoothly.”  
  
Yoochun shook his head, disagreeing. “No, Yunho couldn’t get near him until you arrived. Jaejoong might look like a sweet, fairy princess but when he punched Yunho in the face…I felt it.”  
  
Junsu winced in agreement. “I heard it out here.”  
  
“Most mothers to be get a little testy when the contractions hit…Jaejoong just more so than most,” Ryeowook explained. “His empathic and telepathic powers allow him to know what words can inflict the most harm.”  
  
“Yeah, and his right punch rivals a rabid Klingon,” Yoochun added.  
  
“He will heal Yunho,” Ryeowook told Yoochun. “Yunho has probably already forgotten about being hit…they both looked so happy and Changmin is an adorable baby. They make a beautiful family.”  
  
“The song is beautiful, too,” Kyuhyun stated, admiring the telepathic song still playing in his head.  
  
“It is,” Junsu agreed. “I just want to start singing along.”  
  
“Don’t you dare,” Ryeowook ordered as he turned all his attention on the ensign. “You need to take it easy…and by easy I mean sitting or sleeping. Your throat has to recover. Don’t make me regret giving you permission to talk.”  
  
Yoochun reached out, took Junsu’s hand and pulled him toward him. “Come sit with me and be quiet. Ryeowook might muzzle you.”  
  
Junsu easily relented and sat down beside Yoochun.  
  
“You don’t have to sing along,” the engineer told the ensign. “You are already singing in my head.”  
  
“Along with you, Yunho, Changmin, and Jaejoong…I wonder why it is always us five,” Junsu stated curiously.  
  
Ryeowook pondered Junsu’s words and responded, “I have no idea…because Kyuhyun and I can both sing and Kyuhyun’s voice is pure perfection.”  
  
Kyuhyun blushed. “No, no it isn’t.”  
  
“It is.”  
  
“You are biased.”  
  
Ryeowook nodded his head. “I am totally biased, but it is still the truth.”  
  
Kyuhyun, who was eager to change the topic, asked his husband, “You didn’t by any chance confess to Yunho about what happened in the forest?”  
  
Yoochun quipped, “Oh, everybody knows what you two were doing in the forest. Even sweet but dense Junsu knows what you two were doing.”  
  
Junsu immediately blurted out, “Congratulations on being a properly married couple again.”  
  
Kyuhyun shook his head. “Thank you…but that isn’t what we need to tell the captain…although it was amazing.”  
  
“We saw your flying monkeys,” Ryeowook quickly divulged. “I mean the big birds you saw…they are actually flying monkeys.”  
  
“I knew they were real,” Junsu proclaimed, trying to jump up again, but Yoochun grabbed him and prevented him from getting up.  
  
Yoochun forced his gaze away form the pleased ensign and then looked up at the married couple, who were standing side by side. “What aren’t you saying?”  
  
“They stole the phaser,” Kyuhyun stated.  
  
“They what!” Yoochun exclaimed as he jumped to his feet. “How the fuck did they steal the phaser?”  
  
Kyuhyun rubbed the back of his neck. “I think you know how.”  
  
Yoochun resisted the urge to chastise the other commander, who looked like he knew exactly how grave an error he had committed. “Are they intelligent?”  
  
“We didn’t have time to scan them with the tricorder before they were gone,” Ryeowook explained. “They appeared to be intelligent.”  
  
“Smart enough to take the phaser…” Yoochun paled.  
  
“Do you think they are smart enough to figure out how to work it?” Junsu asked in a voice full of dread.  
  
“The safeties were all in place…correct?” Yoochun asked, hoping for confirmation.  
  
“Of course,” Kyuhyun quickly answered.  
  
“Then unless they get Star Fleet clearance, they won’t be able to work it,” Yoochun said, letting out a breath of relief.  
  
Ryeowook turned his back on the others and looked out towards the forest. “Maybe they are like the vistalin birds on Baylor…maybe they just crave shiny objects.”  
  
Kyuhyun followed his husbands gaze. “I sincerely hope so.”  
  
“That has to be it,” Junsu stated hopefully. “Why would they want it if they can’t work it?”  
  
“They don’t know  _they_  can’t work it,” Yoochun reminded them as he turned to face the cave’s entrance, “We have to tell Yunho. This can’t wait.”  
  
“Yes,” Kyuhyun agreed, still looking off toward the forest. “Because if they are intelligent they know we can work it and by taking it perhaps—” Kyuhyun never had a chance to finish his sentence as a bombardment of rocks started rolling down the side of the volcano straight for them.  
  
  
  
************************  
  
  
  
  
Kangin followed Sunggyu up to the third floor of the brothel and walked into one of the more spacious room. He had a great deal of reservations concerning the younger man and he was more than ready to share them, but he felt he owed it to both Yoochun and Yunho to see what the younger man had to say.  
  
Sunggyu opened the door and walked in; reluctantly Kangin followed him along with the ensigns Dongwoo and Myungsoo.  
  
Kangin was barely in the room before he was injected with a hypospray that rendered him instantly sober.  
  
“What the hell…” Kangin paused as his mind cleared and he took in the room. The room was full of technology from the ship, plus Lieutenant Sooyoung, who had just injected him with the hypospray. “What the hell are you doing?”  
  
Sunggyu, who stood in front of Kangin facing him, stated, “Some would call it mutiny, but they would be wrong.”  
  
“Mutiny?”  
  
“Captain Jung is not dead,” Sunggyu informed the older man matter-of-factly. “Leeteuk and Dr. Kim are imposters, who are somehow controlling the real Dr. Kim and Commander Leeteuk’s bodies.”  
  
“How can you be sure?” Kangin whispered, not daring to hope as he looked around the room and then back at the acting lieutenant.  
  
“There is plenty of proof,” Lieutenant Sooyoung stated. “Once you start looking.”  
  
Sunggyu maintained a steady gaze with Kangin. “Dr. Kim, himself, tried desperately to warn us.”  
  
Kangin gasped, “When?”  
  
“When the anomaly hit the ship...when the boy Taemin and the young Joong appeared, Dr. Kim started having spasms and before he lost consciousness he told Dr. Nam ‘not me, another’…he was warning us. We just didn’t know it,” Lieutenant Sooyoung explained.  
  
“Commander Ji-Hoon basically said the same thing before he had to be put back into stasis after the engineering incident,” Sunggyu added.  
  
For weeks Kangin had felt as if the universe was tilted at an odd angle and he couldn’t right himself, but with their words he felt the universe shifting back into its rightful and proper place. “And what other proof do you have?”  
  
“The most important proof is supplied by our own memories,” Lieutenant Sooyoung said, continuing. “If the captain and Jaejoong were dead then Changmin…would never have been born. How can we remember a person so vividly that never existed? It is more than obvious the Guardian whisked the captain and Jaejoong away before the sun exploded.”  
  
“But the Guardian…couldn’t it have also done something to affect our memories?” Kangin asked. “Doesn’t the Guardian have the ability to bypass the normal rules regarding time and space?”  
  
Sunggyu answered, “We are not sure what the Guardian is capable of, but there is still more proof.”  
  
“Then there is Sulli,” Lieutenant Sooyoung quickly offered up. “She went into a deep sleep the moment Changmin disappeared…and she has not awakened, but she will. If Changmin were truly lost…Sulli would be dead.”  
  
Kangin met the beautiful lieutenant’s gaze. “Because you believe them to be bonded, but that is just theory…a theory you want to be true.”  
  
“I know they are bonded,” Sooyoung answered without reservation or hesitation. “Before Lieutenant Jung disappeared I saw him with her…and they are bonded. She could not accept it, but he knew it. He knew she would lose consciousness the moment he disappeared.”  
  
“And there is this,” Sunggyu stated as a video appeared in the air showing Yunho, Yoochun and Kyuhyun in the brig talking to Dr. Cho and Jaejoong. “If you can’t believe us, listen to them. Believe them. Hear their words.”  
  
Kangin watched and listened in amazement as Yunho and the others talked of rogue Joongs, imposters and the search for ancient artifacts. “How did you get this? You shouldn’t have been able to get this.”  
  
“It wasn’t easy. It had been erased, but luckily the people that erased it lacked the skills to permanently delete it,” Sunggyu replied. “Lieutenant Sooyoung was able to recover it.”  
  
“But still how did you get it without alerting anyone?”  
  
“You forget that I had complete access to the entire ship…along with some very helpful friends.”  
  
The older man did a complete double take. “Did you plan the breech? Was that…was that…did you do it to get access to the ship?”  
  
“No,” Sunggyu immediately replied, shaking his head adamantly. “I didn’t but after it was contained…I did take full advantage of the situation. I won’t lie.”  
  
Kangin folded his arms across his chest and said approvingly, “I am sorry I ever doubted you.”  
  
“Believe me, it was a group effort,” Sunggyu informed the other man. “I have had an extraordinary amount of help.”  
  
“How many people know?” Kangin asked as he turned around to look at the ensigns Dongwoo and Myungsoo, who had been so insistent about him not resigning. “Obviously these two are in on it, Dr. Nam and Ensign Henry must know if they were both left alone with you on the ship and somebody in the transporter department must be in on it, considering all the equipment you have in this room.”  
  
Lieutenant Sooyoung answered, “You are not wrong, plus there are others…a trusted few from different departments on the ship.”  
  
“All the men that were cadets with me,” Sunggyu added. “I trust them…like I trust you.”  
  
“I am glad to be included,” Kangin replied sincerely. “How do we prove they are alive though? Most of the crew is going to need proof…and although the video is enough proof for me, it won’t be for everyone.”  
  
“In truth we can’t be sure that Commander Yoochun, Commander Cho, Dr. Cho or Ensign Junsu are alive,” Lieutenant Sooyoung informed Kangin. “We can only be certain that the captain and Jaejoong are alive.”  
  
Kangin’s smile vanished. “Because you can’t be certain the Guardian would save the others.”  
  
“No,” Sunggyu confessed. “But there is a way of finding out for certain if they are still alive.”  
  
“Then do it,” Kangin told them. “You have to do it.”  
  
“We can’t do it without Ensign Eunhyuk,” Sunggyu explained, looking less confident.  
  
Kangin immediately understood the problem. “And Ensign Eunhyuk is rarely out of Lieutenant Sungmin’s sight of late…and Lieutenant Sungmin can not get wind of this.”  
  
“Exactly,” Lieutenant Sooyoung confirmed. “Since Junsu’s supposed death the chief of security has been sticking very close to Ensign Eunhyuk.”  
  
“Under no circumstances can Lieutenant Sungmin suspect us,” Dongwoo warned from behind Kangin. “He is… _extremely_  dedicated to Captain Leeteuk and he is already suspicious of everyone.”  
  
“True,” Kangin agreed. “He is batshit crazy when it comes to Captain Leeteuk.”  
  
“Not Captain Leeteuk,” Sunggyu corrected. “We must not think of that imposter as the captain. He is not the captain. Captain Jung is the true captain of the Expectations.”  
  
Kangin grinned widely and nodded his head in agreement.  
  
“Very true,” Lieutenant Sooyoung concurred. “But in order to return Captain Jung to his rightful position…we must deal with Lieutenant Sungmin.”  
  
Kangin rubbed his hands together and confidently informed them, “Oh, I can think of one sure fire way of distracting him.”  
  
Sunggyu’s eyes lit up. “Really?”  
  
Kangin pointed at Lieutenant Sooyoung. “I believe you and I are both on good terms with a certain prince…who is very skilled at distracting the security chief.”  
  
“I can not go near Siwon without getting a dangerous amount of unwanted attention from Lieutenant Sungmin. Acting Lieutenant Sunggyu and I had to purposely manufacture false rumors of us being lovers to get him to stop paying unwelcome attention to me and my comings and goings.”  
  
The older ensign turned to face the acting lieutenant and gave him a sympathetic look. “False rumors? That has to be a bummer, but hey, your reputation improved significantly because of them.”  
  
Sunggyu just smiled and shrugged.  
  
Lieutenant Sooyoung’s expression soured for a moment and she stated in a clipped tone, “Maybe saving the away team on Pixxel…not to mention the thousands of people on that planet, and saving the ship from a warp core breach are what improved his reputation.”  
  
Kangin grinned at her and discarded her suggestion. “No, dating you is the real reputation booster.”  
  
“Back to the topic,” Sunggyu ordered, noticing the lieutenant’s irritation. “Ensign Kangin, since Lieutenant Sooyoung can not talk to Siwon without raising the ire of Lieutenant Sungmin, can you do it?”  
  
“I’d love to,” Kangin told them. “But how is bringing Eunhyuk into the fold going to prove the others are alive?”  
  
“Well, luckily for us Lieutenant Jung left detailed notes on certain crystals he had studied in secret,” Sooyoung stated with a grin.  
  
Kangin’s eyes lit up wide. “The soul switching stones?”  
  
Sunggyu did not bother to suppress his grin as he happily elaborated, “And luckily they have recently come into our possession.”  
  
“If we can get Eunhyuk to agree to assist us, his touching the stones should activate—” Sooyoung was interrupted when her combadge went off. She shared an uneasy look with Sunggyu before she tapped it.  
  
The voice of Dr. Nam was immediately heard, “Lieutenant Sooyoung, you need to get up here. Sulli is awake.”  
  
  
********************************  
  
  
Yunho was in heaven.  
  
He was holding Jaejoong as his beloved mate shifted back into his human form. Changmin slept easily in Jaejoong’s arms that had not relinquished their hold on the newborn, even in sleep.  
  
Yunho had always tried to live his life as happily as possible. He had always known what he wanted and he had always gone after it. When times of sadness had darkened his usual optimism he had always done his best to defeat it like it was a deadly foe. His mother had once told him it did him no good to dwell on the miserable and that happiness suited him best, and he full heartedly agreed. Yunho could not remember a time when he had been happier than he was in this moment.  
  
With the sounds of large boulders rolling down the side of the volcano and rocks being dropped outside the cave, Yunho’s heaven gave way to hell.  
  
Yunho moved quickly as he gently laid Jaejoong down on the fur, while making sure Changmin did not fall from the sleeping Joong’s arms. He then quickly got to his feet and rushed toward the exit of the cave.  
  
Before Yunho made it to the cave’s opening Junsu was pushed inside the cave against his will. The former captain quickly noted that the young ensign had new bruises and abrasions covering his face and hands.  
  
“Junsu, what is going on?”  
  
The shaking ensign attempted his best to control his fear and anguish as exclaimed, “Sir, it’s the birds…the birds I saw! They are not really birds! Some are pushing boulders down on us and others are dropping rocks on us!”  
  
“Who has the phaser?” Yunho asked at a loss…surely the birds were no threat…not against a phaser.  
  
“We don’t have it. They took it when—”  
  
“YOOCHUN!” Ryeowook’s high pitched scream pierced through the sound of the falling rocks.  
  
Junsu was forgotten as Yunho swiftly exited the cave in search of his long time friend. It was complete madness outside of the cave as the sounds of the cackling bird creatures could be heard. Yunho looked up to see the humanoid flying creatures as they circled above them tossing down rocks.  
  
“Don’t be still,” Kyuhyun warned as he grabbed a hold of Yunho and jerked him toward the side of the volcano, providing some small shelter against the onslaught of rocks. “If you are still they will hit you with the rocks. Don’t give them anything to aim at. Keep moving.”  
  
Yunho grabbed Kyuhyun and spun him around and demanded, “Where is the phaser?”  
  
“They took it,” Kyuhyun explained as he pulled Yunho toward a large boulder the flying creatures had pushed down the side of the volcano at them.  
  
“How did that happen? Did they attack you?”  
  
“Sir…they have it now,” was all Kyuhyun could say.  
  
Before Yunho could further demand answers his mouth went numb and his heart skipped a beat as he caught sight of a horrifying scene. On the other side of the huge boulder was Yoochun. Only half of Yoochun could be seen as the other half of him was crushed underneath a huge boulder that had to weigh over two tons.  
  
Ryeowook, who was examining Yoochun, looked up at Yunho and the look on the doctor’s face let him know more than words could ever communicate.  
  
“We have to get him out from under there,” Yunho ordered, knowing it was impossible. He had known it was futile the moment he had seen the look in the doctor’s eyes, but refused accept the truth.  
  
“Sir, how?” Kyuhyun asked as he dodged the dropping rocks. “It’s too heavy to move.”  
  
“We…a lever…or something…we have to move it enough to pull him free…there has to be a way,” Yunho shouted loudly so he could be heard over the cackling of the flying monkeys. “There has to be a way.”  
  
Ryeowook, who has been hit by several rocks while examining the engineer, shakily climbed to his feet with blood pouring from the side of his head, and shouted, “Both his femoral arteries are severed…if we move him or remove the boulder he will be dead in seconds…I can’t do anything…there…we…we can’t move the boulder. The pressure from the weight of it is the only thing keeping him alive.”  
  
A loud, almost deafening roar could be heard and the flying monkeys went silent, hovering in place. Kyuhyun, Yunho, and Ryeowook turned their heads toward the grassland and saw three large dinosaurs rushing toward them.  
  
“They must have heard the noise or smelled…smelled the blood,” Kyuhyun whispered, knowing there was no hope for the engineer. “We have to get inside the cave.”  
  
Ryeowook, who knew it was pointless, pushed his sorrow aside, and went against his every instinct. “Kyuhyun is right…there isn’t anything we can do for him.”  
  
“No! We can’t leave him…there is a way. I just have to think of it! We have to think!” Yunho shouted back at the doctor as a large rock hit him and ripped a gash down the side of his arm and back. “We don’t leave people! We can’t leave him! Not like this!”  
  
“We don’t have a choice!” Ryeowook screamed back at the captain as the flying monkeys commenced with their cackling and bombardment of rocks.  
  
“Yunho,” Yoochun whispered and even though the crashing down of the rocks, cackling of the monkeys, and the roars of the dinosaurs Yunho could hear it. “You have to go.”  
  
Yunho moved toward his friend, bent over him, and took his friends hand. “I can’t…don’t ask me to do that...you know I can’t.”  
  
“You have to get in the cave…you all have to get in the cave…you can’t save me.”  
  
“I have to try! I can’t leave you like this. No…No!”  
  
“Listen to me!”  
  
“No!”  
  
Yoochun squeezed Yunho’s hand with the last of his strength. “You have been the best friend…the best friend a man like me could ever ask for, but now our time has come to an end. Get in that cave…your family…they need you…literally, dumbass! If you die, they die! Get in that cave!” Yoochun screamed and jerked his hand free of Yunho. “Save your family!”  
  
Yunho stumbled back, away from Yoochun as the awful truth of his friend’s words registered with him. Small rocks pelted down on him, but he felt no physical pain. He only felt the pain of the impossible situation he had been placed in…the terrible cost.  
  
“Junsu, get back in that cave this minute,” Ryeowook ordered as the young ensign slipped past him to kneel down at Yoochun’s side.  
  
“No,” Junsu told the doctor as he placed both his hands on the sides of the engineer’s face and bent down and kissed Yoochun for what felt like the first time, but in truth was the last time.  
  
“Kyuhyun,” Ryeowook pleaded, hating to be the voice of reason. “We have to get them inside…I know it’s hard, but we have to get them all inside.”  
  
Kyuhyun glanced away from the approaching dinosaurs and headed for Junsu, along with Ryeowook. They both struggled, but finally they succeeded in prying Junsu away from the doomed engineer.  
  
As Junsu was pulled free of him, Yoochun managed a sincere grin as he whispered to the earnest ensign, “Perhaps, in another life.”  
  
A crying Junsu agreed, “In another life.”  
  
With heavy hearts Kyuhyun and Ryeowook pushed and tugged an uncooperative Junsu back inside the cave.  
  
Yunho had walked back to Yoochun.  
  
Yoochun, who was deathly pale and struggling to remain conscious, begged his friend, “Please…please go back inside. I’m dead already.”  
  
“I can…can’t…” Yunho paused, knowing what he had to do, but hating it. Hating it more than he had ever hated anything and knowing it would cost him more than he could ever pay. The giant reptilian beasts were almost upon them and by staying outside the cave he knew he was risking everyone…he knew what he had to do, but he knew he would never be the same after doing it.  
  
“You must…go,” Yoochun beseeched with the last of his strength.  
  
“I am so sorry,” Yunho told his friend with tears in his eyes. “You are my dearest friend…and I love you…and I am so sorry. You will never know how sorry I am.”  
  
“Go…” Yoochun cried. “Go, live…go.”  
  
Yunho didn’t know if was his weakness or his strength that made him turn his back on his friend and head back toward the cave…but it felt like weakness.  
  
After having pushed a brokenhearted Junsu back inside the cave Ryeowook and Kyuhyun were on their way to drag their distraught captain back inside the safety of the cave when they noticed him heading for the cave.  
  
“Hurry!” Ryeowook shouted from the cave’s entrance as the reptilian beasts rushed toward the captain; they were dangerously close. “Run!”  
  
The Chos watched in horror when instead of running to the cave, Yunho stumbled and dropped to his knees.  
  
“Captain!” Kyuhyun exclaimed, attempting to run for the captain, but Ryeowook grabbed him and held him back. “I have to try to save him!”  
  
“No, you don’t,” Ryeowook stated, pointing toward the dinosaurs who had stopped their approach. The giant beasts were not two meters away from the captain but they had stopped in mid run.  
  
They couple shared a perplexed look with each other before they started to comprehend what as going on.  
  
“The rocks,” Kyuhyun muttered as he looked up and noticed they had stopped falling. The flying creatures had stopped their attack and the deafening cackling.  
  
The couple stepped away from the entrance of the cave and cautiously moved toward Yunho. “Captain,” Kyuhyun whispered as he approached the captain. Yunho looked up at his second in command.  
  
“It’s okay,” Yunho told them with relief easily seen on his face. “It’s all okay, now,” Yunho stated as he looked out toward the giant beasts, which were frozen in place as if they feared to move. “They won’t hurt us now.”  
  
“Jaejoong…” Ryeowook whispered under his breath as he turned around in time to see the Joong emerge from the cave.  
  
Jaejoong’s hermaphrodite form was gone and he appeared exactly as he had when Ryeowook had first laid eyes on him. He was beautiful with lustrous thick black hair and huge beautiful brown eyes. He cradled the baby against his chest with one arm.  
  
Jaejoong walked past the couple paying them no attention and moved toward Yunho, who had not moved to get up. Jaejoong walked up behind his mate and laid his free hand on Yunho’s shoulder and gently squeezed it.  _“My love.”_  
  
Yunho exhaled a deep breath.  _“I could feel you awaken.”_  
  
 _“Your distress reached me.”  
  
“Are you alright?”  
  
“I am.”  
  
“You have control of them?”  
  
“Of course, they are easily controlled.”  
  
“We need the phaser back…and we need to get the boulder off of Yoochun.”_  
  
Jaejoong sent out a silent order to the flying creatures and one immediately landed on the ground next to Kyuhyun and held out the phaser. Kyuhyun quickly snatched the phaser away from the creature.  
  
“Yunho, I could easily have the giant beasts move the boulder, but Ryeowook’s mind is full of warnings. Moving the boulder will immediately result in the death of your friend…I can not save Yoochun.”  
  
 _“There has to be a way to save him.”  
  
“There is a way.”  
  
“There is?”  
  
“Yes, aren’t you the one who is always telling me there is always hope?”  
  
“For a moment…I think I lost all hope.”  
  
“No, you did not.”_  
  
Yunho slowly climbed to his feet, turned around, and gazed upon his beloved.  _“I am so sorry for putting you at risk.”_  
  
 _“You need not apologize. I can feel the aching in your heart and the strain from the great burden that was placed on it…the impossible choice. I know you were moving toward the cave when you felt me awaken,”_ Jaejoong mentally told his great love as he reached up with his free hand and wiped away the blood and tears from Yunho’s face with his healing touch.  _“I know how much you love me, Changmin, Yoochun and everyone. I know the great responsibility you feel.”_  
  
Yunho felt the power of the bond as it spread throughout his body, healing his wounds. He reached up and took Jaejoong’s hand in his and caressed it softly.  _“I still do not know how we will save him.”_  
  
Jaejoong smiled and said aloud,  _“It’s time to leave this place.”_  
  
Yunho’s eyes lit up with the hope he had thought he had lost; his mother had been right so long ago…misery did not suit him.  
  
Jaejoong bowed his head and with words of great reverence, he stated aloud and telepathically, “Great Guardian of Time, it is I, Jaejoong of the Royal House of Joong. Once again I must meekly call upon you for your assistance. We humbly ask to leave this planet and be returned to our rightful place. If in your infinite wisdom you see fit to answer my plea, I shall forever be thankful.”  
  
Before anyone had time to utter a word the Guardian pulled them all away.


End file.
